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Muscle growth in full-cycle cultured Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis from early larval to juvenile stage: histochemical, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural observation

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  • Aquaculture
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Abstract

With the development of successful aquaculture techniques, the Pacific bluefin tuna (PBT) has become the most important fish species in Japan. Early muscle growth and cellularity of muscle fibers have a profound effect on ultimate body size and meat quality of fish. Larvae and juveniles of full-cycle cultured PBT were sampled at 3, 15, 29, 41, 70, 128 and 218 days post hatch (dph). Transverse body sections until 41 dph and muscle sections from 41 dph thereafter from dorso-cranial or caudal areas were stained for muscle fiber morphological and morphometric analysis and muscle sections from the dorso-cranial region were used for ultra-structural observation. Red muscle fibers appeared by 15 dph at the horizontal septum both in epaxial and hypaxial regions. Other than a single layer of superficial red fibers and those at the horizontal septum, existence of red muscle fibers was apparent in the PBT myotome. The muscle fiber diameters varied in their size even in adjacent myotomes of PBT. Overall, growth throughout the various stages was a result of both hyperplasia and hypertrophy of muscle fibers. Muscle fiber diameters were greater in the dorso-cranial than in dorso-caudal region at 41, 70 and 128 dph. These results provide additional characterization of PBT growth, which may assist with managing fish production efficiency, harvest age and eating quality.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the International Education and Research Center for Aquaculture Science of Bluefin Tuna and Other Cultured Fish and the Kinki University Global COE Program for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. We are grateful to Dr. Taniguchi Akito, Laboratory of Environmental Science for Aquaculture, School of Agriculture, Kinki University, Japan for his help in taking micrographs from immunohistochemical muscle sections by fluorescence microscope.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Aquatic Food Science, Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, Nara, 631-8505, Japan

    Bimol C. Roy, Masashi Ando, Tomohiro Itoh & Yasuyuki Tsukamasa

  2. Fisheries Laboratory, Kinki University, Wakayama, 649-5145, Japan

    Yasuo Agawa, Tokihiko Okada & Yoshifumi Sawada

  3. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2P5, Canada

    Bimol C. Roy & Heather L. Bruce

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  1. Bimol C. Roy
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  2. Yasuo Agawa
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Correspondence to Bimol C. Roy.

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Roy, B.C., Agawa, Y., Bruce, H.L. et al. Muscle growth in full-cycle cultured Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis from early larval to juvenile stage: histochemical, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural observation. Fish Sci 80, 1009–1020 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-014-0773-3

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