MILESTONES

 

Milestone 1 – Grass Shrimp Content – The first milestone will be the determination of grass shrimp nutritional and energetic content at the end of task 2.

 

Milestone 2 – The accomplishment of Task T3 – We expect to have a characterization of the enzyme activity resulting from different feeding conditions and life stage. This will allow some initial inferences on the type of metabolism of the species that is needed for task T4.

 

Milestone 3 – The development of an accurate methodology to feed tracers to cuttlefish – No studies using radio-labelled tracers have ever been tried with this species and this means that we need to adapt this methodology from those existing for fish. The successful adaptation of existing tube-feeding technology is considered a milestone.

 

Milestone 4 – The successful completion of this project will generate knowledge regarding cuttlefish physiology to be used in the development of a dynamic mechanistic model to correctly design a prepared diet for each life stage of the species.

TASKS

 

T1 – Maintenance of the cuttlefish stock for experiments

 

Objectives:

To keep a stock of animals to be used in tasks T3 and T4.

 

Expected results:

To obtain the necessary animals to conduct studies in tasks T3 and T4. This is indispensable for the good completion of following tasks T3 and T4.

T2 – Determining the nutritional and energy content of the prey model grass shrimp, Palaemonetes varians

 

Objectives:

To characterize the P. varians nutritional content in terms of total protein, amino acids, total lipid, total carbohydrate, moisture, ash; and energy as food.

 

Expected results:

The grass shrimp nutritional and energetic content as food will be established and this knowledge will be used in by crossing results with those obtained by enzyme determinations of task T3.

T3 – Digestive Enzyme Activity at different life stages when fed different diets

 

Objectives:

To determine the enzymes involved in cuttlefish digestion, when fed different diets and starving, at the hacthling, juvenile and adult stages.

To determine the existence of the following enzymes: the generalists acid and alkaline phosphatase; total acid and alkaline protease, trypsin, chymotrypsin; lipase; and amylase.

 

Expected results:

We expect to characterize the enzyme activity resulting from different feeding conditions and life stage. This will allow some initial inferences on the type of metabolism of the species.

T4 – Determining possible metabolic pathways in cuttlefish through the use of radiolabelled tracers

 

Objectives:

a) To develop an accurate methodology to feed radio-labelled tracers to cuttlefish

b) To determine Protein, Amino Acid and Carbohydrate metabolic pathways

 

Expected results:

We expect to have a full clarification regarding the role of carbohydrates and protein in the physiology of cuttlefish from southern Portugal.