Early weaning of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis, L.) with frozen grass shrimp (Palaemonetes varians) from the first day after hatching

The European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is one of the most well-known cephalopods (Boletzky 1983). During the last years, research on cuttlefish has focused on its introduction as a new species for aquaculture. This is due to the biological and economical characteristics that this species display, which have the potential for industrial culture. The most important are the short life cycles and the fast growth rates which imply lower production periods and associated costs. On the other hand, the inability to grow cephalopods on an inexpensive and storable prepared diet has been identified as a bottleneck (Sykes, Domingues, Correia & Andrade 2006).