Abstract
The establishment of a commercial cobia aquaculture is hampered by high mortality rates (> 90%) during the larval rearing. Dietary taurine supplementation has been reported to greatly improve survival rates; however, nutritional role of taurine remains poorly understood in fish. The purpose of this trial was to study the effect of taurine supplementation on growth, amylase, lipase, trypsin, and pepsin-like activities during larval cobia development and weaning. Taurine was delivered using bioencapsulation techniques wherein rotifer and Artemia nauplii were co-enriched with 4 g taurine L− 1 d− 1. At first feeding (3 dph), amylase and trypsin activities were detectable while lipase and pepsin-like activities were not. On a per-larvae basis and regardless of taurine supplementation, enzymatic onset commenced around 16 dph, except for pepsin. However, taurine-supplemented larvae had higher specific trypsin and amylase activities prior to 16 dph. Lipase specific activity was significantly increased only at 11 and 22 dph. Pepsin-like activity remained undetectable until 22 dph, at which point the specific activity was higher (P