Necessity of dietary calcium supplement in black sea bream

A feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the utilization of Ca from sea water by black sea bream Acanthopagrus schlegeli and the effect of dietary tricalcium phosphate on their growth and bone mineralization. Fish were fed the four casein based diets containing Ca-lactate, no supplement of Ca, and low and high levels of tricalcium phosphate for 10 weeks. The Ca unsupplemented diet gave growth and bone mineralization comparable to the diet with a Ca-lactate supplement. Low and high supplements of Ca from tricalcium phosphate appeared not to affect the growth and bone mineralization. The present study indicates that a dietary supplement of Ca may be dispensable in a black sea bream diet.