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Hatchability of cysts and nutritional value of Artemia urmiana's nauplii in different incubation times were evaluated. The experiments were conducted at five incubation times 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26 hours, in triplicate random groups. Hatchability of cysts during these periods was determined with standard methods. Nauplii were hatched in five litre bottles to determine their biochemical composition. Dry weight, protein, lipid, carbohydrate, ash, caloric content and fatty acid compositions of naupiiies were determined at different developmental stages. Also, the dry weight and the biochemical composition of nauplii were determined individually, at different develop-mental stages. The results showed that the hatching percentage and efficiency increased with time with the hatching percentage being significant (P0.05). Based on the results, the incubation times 25 or 26 hours are recommended for harvesting nauplii. At these times, hatchability and the amount of harvested nauplii increased while their nutritional value was highest.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the single and combined effects of dietary probiotic with prebiotic on growth performance, non-specific immune response, body composition, digestive enzymes activity and intestine bacterial flora of sobaity fingerling (Sparidentex hasta). For this purpose, 425 individuals of sobaity fingerlings were prepared with an average weight of 7.64 ± 0.3 g from the Mariculture Research Station of South Iranian Aquaculture Research Center. This study was carried out in a completely randomized design with four treatments and three replications (45 fish per each replication) in fiberglass tanks with 300 liters volume. Fish were fed with feed containing 0 (control group), 10^6 CFU probiotic per gram feed (treatment 1), 0.5 and 1 percent prebiotic plus10^6 CFU probiotic per gram feed (treatment 2 and 3) at 4.5 percent of body weight for a period of 42 days. At the end of the experiment, body composition, intestine, blood, plasma and mucus samples were collected. The obtained results indicated that dietary prebiotic and probiotic did not change growth performance, intestine bacterial flora and non-specific immune response of sobaity (P > 0.05). Nonetheless, plasma bactericidal activity of control group was significantly higher that treatment 3 (P < 0.05). Moisture and protein content of treatment 2 showed significant different compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The results of this study showed that digestive enzymes activity including alkaline protease, amylse and lipase affected by administration of dietary prebiotic and probiotic (P < 0.05). Overall, this study showed that single supplementation of probiotic and combination with prebiotic at the used amounts had no positive effects on growth performance and intestine bacterial flora and immune response (except plasma bactericidal activity) of sobaity but improve digestive enzymes activity.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacing Dunaliella salina algae by agricultural by-products (wheat bran, rice bran and wheat/rice bran) and probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus rhamnosus on digestive enzymes activity of Artemia franciscana in a 17-day period post hatch. The study was a 4×2 factorial experiment carried out as a completely randomized design trial consisting of different dietary treatments (combinations of various substitution levels of Dunaliella salina by wheat bran, rice bran and wheat/rice bran along with probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus). All treatments were performed in triplicates. At the end of the trial, digestive enzymes activity was assayed. The results revealed that Artemia fed wheat bran without any dietary probiotic supplementation showed significantly higher amylase activity (2.06±0.3μmol maltose mg protein-1 min-1) (p

Enrichment of live foods by essential nutrients such as highly unsaturated fatty acids is an important tool for improvement of larval fish quality. In this study, nutritional effects of Artemia urmiana enriched by fish and plant oils on growth, survival rate, body compositions and resistance against thermal, salinity and hypoxic stresses in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss were examined. Six food treatments comprising a commercial feed, non-enriched Artemia nauplii and the nauplii enriched by either of fish, sunflower, canola and soybean oils were used in triplicates. The fish fed with Artemia enriched by fish, sunflower and canola oils had significantly higher (p

Zearalenone (ZEA) as mycoestrogen is found in human foods and animal feeds. Its estrogenic potency depends on its biotransformation fate. The hepatic biotransformation of ZEA in two species of sturgeon fish (Acipenser persicus and Huso huso) was investigated. ZEA was incubated with the hepatic microsomal and post-mitochondrial sub-fractions in the presence of NADPH and the metabolites were determined by means of HPLC. Moreover, the rate of glucuronidation for ZEA and its metabolites were estimated in the presence of uridine diphosphateglucuronic acid. β-zearalenol (β-ZOL) was found to be the major metabolite of ZEA by both sub-fractions. Enzymatic kinetics studies revealed that the maximum velocity (Vmax) in microsomal and post-mitochondrial fractions for β-ZOL production was found 5- and 7-folds in Huso huso and 8- and 12-folds in A. persicus higher than that for α-ZOL production, respectively. The H. huso hepatic post-mitochondrial fraction mainly glucurinated ZEA while in A. persicus, the metabolites and in particular β-ZOL were glucuronidated. Data suggest that the hepatic biotransformation of ZEA in studied sturgeons resulted in detoxification of ZEA as the main metabolite tends to be β-ZOL with weaker estrogenic property. Moreover, clear differences in glucuronidation profile are indicating interspecies variety in hepatic biotransformation of ZEA.

This research was performed to introduce a standard protocol for enrichment of Artemia urmian with Canola oil. Artemia urmiana nauplii were enriched at three densities (50000, 100000 and 200000 nauplii L^-1) and three concentrations of Canola oil (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 g L^-1). Their effects were evaluated on survival, total length and profile of fatty acids at 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 hours after the onset of enrichment. Cysts of A.urmiana were hatched according to the standard method. A.urmiana nauplii were stocked at above densities in 7 L cylindrical containers. Canola oil emulsion was added at concentrations of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 g L^-1 at the beginning and 12 hours after the onset of enrichment. The results of analysis showed that enrichment of A.urmiana with 0.3 g L^ -1 Canola oil at 100000 nauplii L^-1 for 18 hours was considered as the best treatment. Artemia nauplii enriched in this treatment had significantly higher levels of (n-3) PUFA and survival and minimum total length comparing to other treatments. The treatment had significantly higher levels of (n-6) PUFA than all treatments except treatment with a density of 50,000 nauplii L^-1 with 0.1 g L^-1 Canola oil for 18 hours.

Because of limitations of production of unicellular green algae (especially in large volumes), this study aimed to culture Artemia using three sources of cheap agricultural by-products that were coupled with small amounts of unicellular algae Dunaliella salina. The results of growth and survival, biomass production, individual wet weight, wet and ash percent, FCR and SGR and nutritional value of experiments groups were compared with that of the control group that was reared on a diet completely consisting of green algae. At the end of day 15, although best results in the case of growth and survival and biomass production were obtained in the control, the results of all evaluated parameters experimental treatments were comparable to the control.

The effects of using n-3 LC-PUFA -enriched Artemia nauplii and newly hatched Artemia on survival and resistance to pH stress in larvae of angel fish (Peterophylum scalar) were examined In tow 20 days period. In the first step of the experiment the larvae with an average weight of 0.86 ±0.03mg were fed with tow diets (enriched Artemia nauplii and newly hatched Artemia) for 20 days. At the end of the first step of the experiment, the significantly (p

HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids) content is one of the most important indices for determination of food value in fish larvae feeding. The HUFA has also an important role in fish larvae health, growth and survival. Because of this, enrichment methods for increasing of HUFA content in Artemia nauplii was developed. The aim of this study was to determine the impacts of dietary of fish and vegetable oil on Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchs mykiss, body composition. The experiments were carried out in six different treatments with three replicates for 2 weeks. The feeding treatments during the first 10 days included: 1) Commercial diet, 2) A. Urmiana nauplii enriched with fish oil, 3) A. urmiana nauplii enriched with Sunflower oil, 4) A. urmiana nauplii enriched with Canola oil, 5) A. urmiana nauplii enriched with Soybean oil, 6) Newly hatched un-enriched A. urmiana nauplii. The highest concentrations of fatty acids in diet were oleic, palmitotic, linoleic, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and stearic acid, while in larvae tissue of trout in all treatments were oleic, linolenic, linoleic, stearic and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), respectively. The concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid [20:5(n-3)] in contrast with docosahexaenoic acid [22:6(n-3)] in the Commercial diet were significantly reduced (P

In this work, we investigated the effects of various feeding treatments on the survival and growth of Huso huso and Acipenser persicus larvae during a 20-day culture period. Three replicate groups (250 fish/replicate) of first-feeding larvae were fed according to four main feeding regimes: (1) live food (live nauplii of brine shrimp Artemia urmiana); (2) indirect transition (5–7 days live food followed by gradual transition to formulated diet); (3) direct transition (using different combinations of live and formulated diet from the start feeding onwards); and (4) formulated feed (FD) from the start of feeding. In H. huso larvae, combining live food and manufactured diets (co-feeding) from the first feeding stage onwards (direct transition) resulted in significantly higher weight gain than the other regimes. Survival was significantly higher in H. huso larvae fed solely live food or the direct transition regimes compared with indirect transition and FD. In A. persicus larvae, growth and survival were higher in the indirect transition feeding regime than in the other regimes. On the basis of the results of this study, we recommend co-feeding of H. huso immediately from the commencement of exogenous feeding, but co-feeding of A. persicus should start 7 days after prior feeding with live food.

Chronic stresses can influence the behavioral and physiological activities of animals and can lead to reduction of resistance against disease and decrease in growth rate and production.Artemianauplii enriched with essential nutrients particularly fatty acids have been used to promote growth, survival and resistance of different species of aquatic animals to various environmental stresses as well as infectious diseases. In this study we investigated the resistance to environmental stress (temperature, salinity and hypoxi) in larvae of rainbow trout fed Artemianauplii enriched with vegetable oils. The experiment was carried out in 6 triplicate treatments for a period of 10 days. The feeding treatments included: 1) commercial starter feed for trout (Control) 2) Artemianauplii enriched with fish oil, 3) Artemianauplii enriched with sunflower oil, 4) Artemianauplii enriched with canola oil, 5) Artemianauplii enriched with soybean oil and 6) newly hatched nauplli of Artemia. The results showed significant differences in tolerance of fish larvae to high temperature (20 and 25°C), hypoxia stress (5 ppm) and salinity stress (10, 15 and 20 mg.l-1) among different groups. Highest survival to all experimental stresses (except in one case) was observed in larvae fed Artemianauplii enriched with canola oil compared to those fed control diet ( p

Co-feeding of fish larvae with live food and formulated diet has been at the focus of fish nutritionists since last decade. In this study we tried to refine the feeding practices of great beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) larvae using different combinations of newly hatched Artemia urmiana nauplii and trout starter diet. Three replicate groups (250 fish/replicate) of first-feeding Huso huso larvae were fed on the basis of four main feeding regimens: (1) live food (live nauplii of brine shrimp Artemia urmiana); (2) indirect transition (5 days live food followed by gradual transition to formulated diet); (3) direct transition (using different combinations of live and formulated diet from start feeding); (4) formulated feed (FD). It was found that combining live food and manufactured diets (co-feeding) from first feeding stage (direct transition) significantly improves the weight gain in H. huso larvae followed by indirect transition, live food and FD. But survival was significantly higher in larvae fed on pure live food and direct transition regimens compared to indirect transition and FD. It was concluded that co-feeding of H. huso could be started immediately from commencement of exogenous feeding.

Due to the importance of adult Artemia in aquaculture, information regarding the digestive enzyme activities variation with inexpensive diets has great importance in Artemia at different life stages. In this study, the effect of different inexpensive diets on digestive enzyme activities, including trypsin, amylse and lipase of Artemia urmiana was investigated in different life stages. The experiment was carried out with 5 treatments and each with 2 replicates over 15 days using 5 diets (wheat meal, common carp diet, soy meal, a mixture of soy meal and canola meal (compound diet 1) and a mixture of soy meal and wheat meal (compound diet 2) in a completely random design. Nauplii were introduced to their cultivation environments after hatching and the digestive enzyme activities were measured in days 5, 10 and 15 of the experiment. Positive and significant correlation were observed between the crude protein content of the diets and trypsin activity (0.74), the carbohydrate content of the diets and amylase activity (0.49), and crude fat content of the diets and lipase activity (0.84). The activities of all enzymes were increased with the Artemia development in this study. During the experimental period, the trypsin, activities were increased in all treatments with the exception of wheat meal treatment, amylase activities were increased in all treatments and lipase activities were increased in all treatments with the exception of common carp diet and wheat meal treatments. Digestive enzyme activities were affected by the diets and Artemia life stages. Regarding the increasing digestive enzyme activities until adult stage in Artemia urmiana, using adult Artemia urmiana decreases pressure on resources of Artemia cyst and nauplii in natural environments. In addition, this condition may result in more economic returns and better quality of adult Artemia compared to its cyst and nauplii.

Lipases (EC 3.1.1.3.) are water-soluble enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of ester bonds in water–insoluble, lipid substrates. Although the distribution and properties of various lipases from many tissues of human, laboratory and domestic animals have been studied, little is known about the pattern of distribution and physiological roles of these enzymes in the rainbow trout. The aim of the present study was to examine and compare the distribution of lipase in different tissues of the rainbow trout. A selection of tissue samples was assayed for lipase using the olive oil splitting method for the determination of formed free fatty acids. Significant activity of this enzyme was found throughout digestive system, which provokes that the pyloric caecal mass has the highest specific activity of lipase followed by the liver, kidney, stomach, spleen, distal intestine, proximal intestine, gill, heart, abdominal muscle and brain. High activity of lipase in the pyloric caecal mass of rainbow trout indicates its primary role in fat digestion. However, its wide tissue distribution suggests that this enzyme might perform other functions beside gastrointestinal fat digestion. The lipase activity in pyloric caecal mass seems to be dependent to bile salts under our assay conditions, resulting in a significant activity in the presence of natural bovine bile. The results of this study will be discussed in terms of the involvement of lipase in several biochemical and physiological functions in this species

Artemia is one of the most conspicuous invertebrates associated with aquaculture. It can be considered as a model organism, offering numerous advantages for comprehensive and multidisciplinary studies using morphologic or molecular methods. Since DNA extraction is an important step of any molecular experiment, a new and a rapid method of DNA extraction from adult Artemia was described in this study. Besides, the efficiency of this technique was compared with two widely used alternative techniques, namely Chelex® 100 resin and SDS-chloroform methods. Data analysis revealed that the new method is the easiest and the most cost effective method among the other methods which allows a quick and efficient extraction of DNA from the adult animal., {"references":["J. Dhont, P. Sorgeloos, Applications of Artemia. In: Abatzopoulos, T.,\nBeardmore, J., Clegg, J., Sorgeloos, P. (Eds). Artemia: basic and applied\nbiology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.\n2002. 251-277.","G. Gajardo, T.J. Abatzopoulos, I. Kappas, J. A. Beardmore, Chapter V.\nEvolution and speciation. In: Abatzopoulos, T.J., Beardmore, J.A.,\nClegg, J.S., Sorgeloos, P. (Eds).Artemia: basic and applied biology.\nKluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, the Netherlands. 2002. 225-\n250.","J.A. Moorad, M.S. Mayer, M.A. Simovich, Extraction of DNA from\nanostracan cysts (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) for use in RAPD-PCR\nanalysis. Hydrobiologia. 1997.359: 159-162.","P. Bossier, W. Xiaomei, F. Catania, F. Dooms, G. Van Stappen, E.\nNaessens, P. Sorgeloos, An RFLP database for authentication of\ncommercial cyst samples of the brine shrimp Artemia spp. (International\nStudy on Artemia LXX). Aquaculture. 2004. 231: 93-112.","S. Yu, J. Geng, P. Zhou, J. Wang, X. Chen, J. Hu, New hydroxyapatite\nmonolithic column for DNA extraction and its application in the\npurification of Bacillus subtilis crude lysate. Journal of Chromatography\nA. 2008. 1183: 29-37.","C.W. Kan, C.P. Fredlake, E.A.S. Doherty, A.E. Barron, DNA\nsequencing and genotyping in miniaturized electrophoresis systems,\nElectrophoresis. 2004. 25, 3564-3588.","H.L. Chang, Y.S. Moo, S.J. Kih, Y.E. Tae, L. Won, A chelating resin\ncontaining 4-(2-thiazolylazo) resorcinol as the functional group.\nChromatographic application to the preconcentration and separation of\nsome trace metal ions including uranium. Analytical chemistry. Acta.\n1997. 57-63, 351.","M. Kumar, D.P.S. Rathore, A.K. Singh, Pyrogallol immobilized\nAmberlite XAD-2: a newly designed collector for enrichment of metal\nions prior to their determination by flame atomic absorption\nspectrometry. Microchim Acta. 2001. 137: 127.","I. Singh, R. Saini, A highly selective photometric method for uranium\n(VI) using pyrimidyl azo dye in presence of EDTA. Talanta. 1994. 41:\n2173-2175.\n[10] D. F. Boltz, J. Edward, Jr. Havlena, The ultraviolet spectrophotometric\ndetermination of cadmium by the diethyldithiocarbamate method.\nAnalytical chemistry. 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Higuchi, Chelex-100 as a medium for\nsimple extraction of DNA for PCR-based typing from forensic material.\nBioTechniques. 1991. 10: 506-513.\n[15] A. Estoup, CR. Largiader, E. Perrot, D. Chourrout, Rapid one-tube DNA\nextraction for reliable PCR detection of fish polymorphic markers and\ntransgenes. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology. 1996. 5: 295-\n298.\n[16] L. G. Davis, M. D. Dibner, J. F. Battey, Basic Methods in Molecular\nBiology. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., New York. 1986. 388\npp.\n[17] A. Di Pinto, V. T. Forte, M. G. Guastadisegni, C. Martino, F. Schena, B.\nTantillo, A comparison of DNA extraction methods for food analysis.\nFood Control. 2007. 18, 76-81.\n[18] R. Boom, C. J. A. Sol, M. M. M. Salimans, C. L. Jansen, P. M. E.\nWertheim-Van Dillen, J. Van der Noordaa, Rapid and simple method\nfor purification of nucleic acids. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 1990.\n28: 495-503.\n[19] L. Rudbeck, J. Dissing, Rapid, simple alkaline extraction of human\ngenomic DNA from whole blood, buccal epithelial cells, semen and\nforensic stains for PCR. BioTechniques. 1998. 25: 588-592.\n[20] G. E. Truett, P. Heeger, R. L. Mynatt, A. A. Truett, J. A. Walker, M. L.\nWarman, Preparation of PCR-quality mouse genomic DNA with hot\nsodium hydroxide and Tris (HotSHOT). BioTechniques. 2000. 29: 52-\n54.\n[21] Z. Xin, J.P. Velten, M. J. Oliver, J.J. Burke, High throughput DNA\nextraction method suitable for PCR. BioTechniques. 2003. 34: 820-826.\n[22] J. Montero-Pau, A. G├│mez, J. Mu├▒oz, Applification of an inexpensive\nand high-throughput genomic DNA extraction method for the molecular\necology of zooplanktonic diapausing eggs. Limnology and\nOceanography: Methods. 2008. 6: 218-222.\n[23] L. De Meester, A. G├│mez, B. Okamura, K. Schwenk, Acta Oecol. The\nMonopolization Hypothesis and the dispersal-gene flow paradox in\naquatic organisms. Acta Oecol. 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Recently, the nutritional requirements of marine finfish larvae have received considerable attention, and studies have shown that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) affects the growth and survival of marine finfish larvae. This study investigated the effects of different Artemia enrichments containing variable amounts of DHA and EPA on the growth and survival of larval Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus). Four different Artemia enrichments ICES30/4 (with 20.90mg/g DW DHA and 6.29mg/g DW EPA), Sturgeon Ovary Oil (SOO) (with 2.76mg/g DW DHA and 7.55mg/g DW EPA), Cod Liver Oil (CLO) (with 7.64mg/g DW DHA and 11.39mg/g DW EPA) and Linseed Oil (LO) (with 0.00mg/g DW DHA and 0.03mg/g DW EPA) in seventy five aquaria (each 45 liter, with three replicates per treatment) were used. The resultant Artemia contained a different concentration of DHA (0.00-5.99mg/g DW) and EPA (0.69-4.97mg/g DW). Larvae were fed with Artemia from 3 to 20 days after active feeding at 250 prey 1^-1. Results showed that there were significant differences between treatments regarding to the total length and wet weight but no significant differences were found in dry weight between the larvae reared on different treatments. However, larvae reared on LO were significantly higher (in weight) than larvae reared on ICES30/4 and SOO. Larval survival on the SOO enriched Artemia (93.3±1.6) at 20th day was significantly higher than other treatments. Our results showed a positive effect of Artemia DHA proportions on growth and survival of the Persian sturgeon, and demonstrated that larvae of this species require a high ratio of dietary DHA to EPA. Article includes abstract in Farsi on last page.

High mortality frequently occurs in larval mass production of Persian sturgeon fish, Acipenser persicus. Nutritional deficiencies in live food, Artemia urmiana nauplii, fed to larvae could be a reason. A series of experiments was carried out to evaluate the effects of nutritional enrichment of Artemia by oils in different concentrations with or without different levels of vitamin C during two enrichment periods (12 and 24h) on survival, growth rate and salinity tolerance in Persian sturgeon larvae reared in tanks after 20 days. Four types of oils (ICES30/4, sturgeon ovary, cod liver, and linseed oils) were evaluated. HUFA oil source with or without vitamin C did not affect the growth rate of Persian sturgeon larvae. Nevertheless, survival rates and chemical compositions were significantly improved (P

Six Artemia populations, one bisexual and five parthenogenetic, from different parts of Iran were compared using morphometric and genetic characteristics. The discriminant analysis based on 19 morphometric variables showed that there are significant differences between the studied populations based on their morphological characteristics, where 85.9% of original grouped cases were correctly classified. The bisexual Artemia urmiana however exhibited a 100% separation from the parthenogenetic populations. However, a 1500 bp mitochondrial rDNA fragment showed similar RFLP patterns for all Iranian populations confirming earlier reports of a close genetic relationship between A. urmiana and parthenogenetic Artemi.

The nutritional quality of commercially available Artemia strains is relatively poor in Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), Arachidonic acid (ARA) and especially Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Hence, it is essential and common practice to enrich this live prey with emulsions of special oils. One commercial ICES30/4 (Belgium), Linseed oil as a vegetable oil, Cod liver oil and Sturgeon ovary oil as two animal oils with EPA amounts in these oils were 6.29, 0.03, 11.39, 7.55 and the DHA amounts were 20.90, 0.00, 7.64, 2.76 respectively with three concentrations (100, 200 and 300ppm) during two enrichment periods (12 and 24h) were tested in order to improve the HUFA content, the DHA/EPA ratio and ARA content of Artemia urmiana nauplii. The results showed that Artemia enriched with different levels of vegetable oil and enrichment periods was poor in relation to either HUFA content or DHA/EPA ratio but the fish oils and emulsion resulted in HUFA incorporation. Sturgeon ovary oil caused the poorest DHA/EPA ratio enrichment (0.40 in 300ppm-24h) but the commercial emulsion (ICES30/4) was found as the best for DHA/EPA ratio enrichment (1.20 in 300 ppm- 24h). Cod liver oil (0.53 in 100ppm-24h) can be a good internal source substitute for improving the DHA/EPA ratio enrichment compared to ICES30/4 due to price and availability. As a result, HUFA content was increased with enrichment level 200ppm during 24h. Also, all oil sources improved lipid and protein percentages in A. urmiana nauplii.

Regarding to effectivness of Artemia in survival and growth of various aquatic animals larval stages, .... Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute Published

We studied the Artemia populations existing in Lake Urmia (north-western Iran), one of the largest habitats of Artemia in the world, in order to settle the long-standing controversy over the sexual status of the endemic Artemia populations. Experiments were carried out in the laboratory and in the field. Cysts, collected from different sites of the lake and peripheral lagoons, were hatched and cultured to adults in the laboratory. Adult sexual and parthenogenetic animals were isolated and newly hatched nauplii from them were cultured to maturity in different salinities, ranging from 15-80 ppt. Survival levels and percentage of animals attaining adulthood were measured over a period of 30 days. In the field experiment, cysts taken from Lake Urmia were hatched and the resulting nauplii were inoculated into six earthen ponds (80-140 ppt) constructed in the vicinity of the lake. Population composition in each pond was determined over a period of two years. Results indicated that both sexual and parthenogenetic Artemia coexist in Lake Urmia. While the lake itself is dominated by sexual Artemia, the asexual populations were found to be restricted to particular areas in or near the lake. Artemia appearing seasonally in the lagoons adjacent to the lake were exclusively parthenogenetic. Parthenogens could grow, mature and reproduce at very low salinities (15-33 ppt), whereas higher salinities (above 50 ppt) were required for A. urmiana to attain sexual maturity. We consider salinity to be a major abiotic factor determining the distribution of these sexually different populations within and outside the lake.

The pupose of the present study was morphological characterization of different Artemia populations from Iran...... Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute Published

The brine shrimp Artemia is a tiny crustacean of the class branchiopoda,...... Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute Published

UrmiaLake which is situated in the north est of Iran considrerd as the largest habitate of Artemia in the world...... Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute Published

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of replacing fish meal with plant sources on growth performance, immune responses, hematological parameters and disease resistance in rainbow trout. In this study, mean of initial body weight of fish was 15±2 g and the experiment was carried out for a period of 60 days. Four experimental diets were formulated to replace 0, 40, 70 and 100% fish meal with plant protein sources (wheat gluten, corn gluten and soybean meal). According to results, higher plant protein inclusions (70 and 100%) resulted in undesirable effects on growth, nutritional indices, serum total immunoglobulin and alternative complement activity (P < 0.05). Otherwise, results suggested that it is possible to replace 40% of fish meal with plant counterparts without any noticeable negative effects on growth and humeral immune parameters (lysozyme activity and total antibody) (P > 0.05). Furthermore, replacement of fish meal with plant sources in all treatments had no significant effects on blood parameters (hematocrit, hemoglobin, white blood cells, hetrophil and lymphocytes count). Finally, no significant differences were observed in fish mortality after 15 days of challenges with Yersinia ruckeri among treatments (P > 0.05).

The occurrence of Lepidurus apus in Iran is reported for the first time. this species was found in Aigher goli located in the mountains area, east Azerbaijan province (North east, Iran). details on biogeography, ecology and morphology of this species are provided.