Published in

Springer (part of Springer Nature), Marine Biology, 6(161), p. 1275-1283

DOI: 10.1007/s00227-014-2417-7

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Can a marine pest reduce the nutritional value of Mediterranean fish flesh?

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Biological invasions are deemed as one of the most severe threats to biodiversity and can result in huge economic impacts on natural resources. Many studies have assessed structural changes caused by the introduction of nonindigenous species, but urgent questions remain to be answered about the complex indirect effects of invasive pests on marine biodiversity at the species and ecosystem level. Previous investigations focusing on the biological invasion by Caulerpa racemosa in the Mediterranean indi- cated that the lipophilic algal metabolite caulerpin accu- mulates in the tissues of the native edible white sea bream Diplodus sargus feeding on the exotic alga. The level of caulerpin in D. sargus has been thus used as an indicator of the trophic exposure of the fish to the seaweed and related with adverse effects on the fish health. In the present study, we show that the C. racemosa-based diet can also alter muscle fatty acids composition in the white sea bream by reducing the percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the n-3 and n-6 series, such as eicosapentaenoic (C20:5), docosahexaenoic (C22:6) and arachidonic acids (C20:4). This represents both a real threat to the health of fish unable to biosynthesize these essential fatty acids and an impover- ishment of an important source of essential fatty acids for human nutrition, which helps to prevent cardiovascular dis- eases, diabetes, hepatic steatosis, cancer and neurological disorders. On the whole, this work sheds light on an unex- plored and critical aspect of biological invasions with impli- cation on the health of both humans and the environment.