Biosynthesis of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris

Abstract

Common Octopus is an ideal candidate for the diversification of Mediterranean marine aquaculture. Nonetheless, its culture is severely hindered due to the massive mortalities that take place during the paralarval stage. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are essential nutrients for paralarvae (Navarro and Villanueva, 2000), but the precise requirements for the species have not been determined yet. Our objective is to identify essential fatty acids for the paralarval stages through the characterisation of the key enzymes involved in the PUFA endogenous synthesis. What follows here is a brief account of the main results obtained up to date