Amino acid mobilization and growth of juvenile Octopus maya (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) under inanition and re-feeding

Octopus maya is an endemic cephalopod from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, with interest to develop their commercial culture. Like all cephalopods, protein is an important nutrient both for growing and energetic metabolism. This condition results in a high demand for protein and specifically for certain amino acids (AAs). In this study it is examined the effects of inanition and re-feeding on growth and AA content in soft tissue to detect the amino acid (AA) mobilization to identify the principal metabolic reserves in juvenile O. maya. After 25. days re-feeding of all starved groups, the octopuses were unable to reach the similar weight as the control group. However, SGR of some groups were greater than that of the controls, although the differences were not significant due to variability in the data. Therefore, it is assumed that the juveniles of O. maya would need a longer period of time to reach the control group. It is therefore demonstrated that juveniles of O. maya have a wide plasticity to tolerate, at least 10. days of food deprivation without any apparently physiological damage. Moreover, during inanition the juveniles of O. maya used preferentially Thr, Phe, Ile, Ala, Glu and Ser, suggesting a strong mobilization of both essential and non essential AA to maintain the homeostasis. Prove of that is that survival of the animals during fasting and re-feeding period was not affected by treatments.