Comparative Study of the Gut Contents of Penaeus japonicus Bate 1888 (Decapoda: Penaeidae) In Semi-Intensive Culture and In Brackish Water Wild Environment

The trophic adaptability of a species may influence its dispersion potential and the ability to invade foreign territories. Understanding the factors that facilitate trophic adaptability may help the provision of forecasts about the potential dispersion of allocthonous species, even in a warmer and acidified world, according to the current trends of global changes. Various studies demonstrated the adaptability of Penaeus japonicus Bate to variable feeding regimes under natural conditions. To optimize artificial diets for the aquaculture of Penaeid shrimps, gut content data of specimens cultured in ponds were compared to contents from shrimps fed on natural macro benthic communities in a brackish-water lagoon. In addition, the feeding adaptability of this shrimp to scarcely diversified benthic associations was tested in aquaculture ponds. Our comparative analyses confirm that P. japonicus feeding pattern may be largely adapted to variations in the available benthic organisms, in different management conditions.