Dietary eicosapentaenoic acid requirement of juvenile rock bream, Oplegnathus fasciatus

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the optimum dietary level of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n‐3) based on growth and non‐specific immune responses in juvenile rock bream. A basal diet without EPA supplementation was used as a control, and six other diets were prepared by supplementing with 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 or 40 g of EPA per kg diet. The actual EPA concentrations of the diets were 0.5, 4.3, 8.5, 13.0, 16.8, 21.0 and 41.2 g of EPA per kg diet, and the diets were abbreviated as EPA0.5, EPA4.3, EPA8.5, EPA13.0, EPA16.8, EPA21.0 and EPA41.2, respectively. Triplicate groups of fish averaging 1.06 ± 0.01 g (mean ± SD) were fed one of the seven experimental diets at the apparent satiation for 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding trial, weight gain, specific growth rate and feed efficiency of fish fed EPA16.8, EPA21.0 and EPA41.2 diets were significantly higher than those of fish fed EPA0.5, EPA4.3, EPA8.5 and EPA13.0 diets (p