Replacement of Fish Meal in Aquaculture Diets with Plant Ingredients as a Means of Improving Seafood Quality

The enhanced metabolic efficiency of aquatic animals such as fish and crustaceans over terrestrial homotherms includes the fact that they do not expend energy for body temperature regulation and excretion of toxic ammonia (without the need of synthesising its non-toxic derivatives). Therefore, utilisation of dietary nutrients for body deposition/growth can be higher in fish than in domestic mammals or birds. There is evidence that seafood quality can be enhanced by using specifically modified diets for cultured fish while simultaneously avoiding environmental pollutants in controlled farming. The question remains if fish can utilise feed stuffs of plant, bacterial, or yeast origin with low nutrient concentrations.