Cryopreservation of marine planktonic crustacean nauplii for innovative and cost-effective live feed diet in fish juvenile aquaculture (CryoPlankton2)

CryoPlankton 2 was a two-year project funded by EU Horizon 2020, aimed at upscaling the innovative ‘CryoPlankton’ production process towards industrial production volumes, therefore demonstrating the performance and commercial potential of the product.

Tangible results: The project demonstrates a novel technique that cryopreserves the marine crustacean nauplii in large user-friendly entities and revitalises them after thawing. The process is efficient and replaces conventional live feeds used for fish juvenile aquaculture.

Application/relevance: Protocols developed at end-users’ hatcheries resulted in 50-100% higher growth rates in fish juveniles, as well as far higher rates of survival compared to the control treatments. The produced fish juveniles were better of quality, with low deformities and high stress-resistance. The project also found a way to make the production more environmentally friendly by reducing the amount of plastic normally associated with the process.