Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) are exceptional marine species considering their reproductive patterns and other features. Due to the iconic characteristics of these fishes, aquarium trade and research efforts have increased in the last years. Consequently, novel rearing techniques have been developed; however, there is a need for improvements on a series of issues, namely reproduction success enhancement. The tropical species Hippocampus reidi is the most traded seahorse but many aspects of breeding and its impact on the quality of neonates are still poorly understood. In the present study, we assessed the effects of two pre-breeding diets on newborn quality and viability considering biochemical characteristics, energetic status and ultrastructural aspects of muscular tissue. During the whole pre-breeding season (5 months), the breeders were fed on one of the following diets: M0 (adult non-enriched Artemia) and M5 (adult non-enriched Artemia + mysidaceans). From the onset of the reproduction period, all breeders were fed for 6 months on diet M5. Breeding success and energetic status (ATP, total adenylic nucleotides, AEC and NAD) of newborns resulted considerably enhanced in treatment M5. However, initial differences in neonates quality did not affect further newborn performance (survival and growth until day 7 after male’s pouch release) while gaining access to high-quality preys (copepods). Besides, morphological alterations in muscle tissue were not observed. The reproduction in the species followed a capital–income continuum pattern characterized by an initial mixed capital-income period (until 70-100 days since the onset of the breeding season) followed by an income breeding period with progressive exhaustion of body reserves, especially in M0-newborns. Interestingly, the effects of pre-breeding diets were also noticed in the second half of the breeding period. Our results seemed to indicate that the requirements in essential fatty acids in H. reidi are lower than in other seahorse species (e.g., H. guttulatus). Globally, the results achieved revealed that high-quality pre-breeding diets enhanced reproduction success and would likely result advantageous to improve newborn endurance in conditions of moderate starvation or sub-optimal feeding.

中文翻译：

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海马海马的繁殖前饮食：它们如何影响新生儿的脂肪酸谱，能量状态和组织学特征？

考虑到它们的繁殖方式和其他特征，海马（海马属）是特殊的海洋物种。由于这些鱼类的标志性特征，近年来，水族馆贸易和研究工作有所增加。因此，已经开发了新颖的饲养技术。然而，需要在一系列问题上进行改进，即提高复制成功率。热带物种海马reidi是交易最多的海马，但对繁殖的许多方面及其对新生儿质量的影响仍知之甚少。在本研究中，我们考虑了肌肉组织的生化特性，能量状态和超微结构方面，评估了两种预饲饮食对新生儿质量和生存能力的影响。在整个繁殖季节（5个月）内，饲养员采用以下饮食之一喂养：M0（成人非富集性贫血症）和M5（成人非富集性贫血症+甲壳类动物）。从繁殖期开始，所有繁殖者均以M5饲料喂养6个月。新生儿的繁殖成功和精力充沛的状态（ATP，总腺苷酸核苷酸，AEC和NAD）在M5治疗中得到了显着提高。然而，新生儿质量的最初差异并没有影响进一步的新生儿表现（直到雄性囊释放后第7天的存活和生长），同时仍能获得高质量的猎物（足足类）。此外，未观察到肌肉组织的形态变化。该物种的繁殖遵循资本－收入连续体模式，其特征是最初的混合资本－收入期（自繁殖季节开始至70-100天），然后是收入繁殖期，身体储备逐渐枯竭，特别是在M0-新生儿。有趣的是，在繁殖期的后半段也注意到了预饲养日粮的影响。我们的结果似乎表明，H。reidi中必需脂肪酸的要求低于其他海马物种（例如，H。guttulatus）。在全球范围内，所取得的结果表明，高质量的预饲饮食能提高繁殖成功率，并且可能在中等饥饿或次适度喂养的条件下有利于提高新生儿的耐力。