• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 2005

Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has been widely used as a food organism for rotifers used in the larval production of marine fish. However, the nutritional value of the yeast is relatively poor compared with that of the marine alga Chlorella. We examined the nutritional value of another yeast, Candida utilis, and whether its food value could be increased through manipulation such as a cell wall treatment. Candida utilis and S. cerevisiae and their manipulated varieties were assessed with regard to the growth and nutrition of the rotifer Brachianus plicatilis. Larvae of the flounder Paralichthys alivaceus were cultured with rotifers fed on the yeast species, and the dietary value of the rotifers for the larvae was examined. Rotifers that were fed C. utilis grew faster than those provided with S. cerevisiae. Rotifers grew slightly faster on manipulated yeast than on non-manipulated yeast varieties. Of the two yeast species, C. utilis had better dietary value for rotifers. Flounder larvae cultured with rotifers that had fed on C. utilis displayed better growth and survival ($\%$) than did those cultured with rotifers that had fed on S. cerevisiae. Although the manipulated variety of C. utilis was better than the non-manipulated variety in terms of rotifer growth, the flounder larvae survived ($\%$) and grew better when they were fed rotifers that had eaten non-manipulated C. utilis. However, the nutritional value of this yeast species was still lower than that of Chlorella.