Marine wax ester digestion in salmonid fish: a review

Alternative marine resources from lower trophic levels could partly cover the rapidly increasing needs for marine proteins and oils in the future. The North Atlantic calanoid copepod, Calanus finmarchicus, has a high level of lipids rich in n-3 fatty acids. However, these animals have wax esters as the main lipid storage component rather than triacylglycerol (TAG). Although these esters are considered difficult to digest by many fish, is it well known that juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) feed on zooplankton species. It is therefore possible that the capacity to utilize these lipids should be well developed in salmonids. Nonetheless, salmon hydrolyse wax esters slower than TAG and absorb fatty alcohols slower than fatty acids. However, salmon have several adaptations to digest diets rich in wax esters. These includes increased feed conversion, higher production of bile and higher activity of lipolytic enzymes in the midgut. Atlantic salmon has been shown to feed and grow on diets with a medium amount of wax esters (30% of the lipid) with results comparable to fish maintained on fish oil diets. Ingestion of higher level of wax esters (50% of the lipid) cause, however, poorer lipid digestibility and growth, so that optimal utilization of wax esters in Atlantic salmon is closer to 30% than 50% of the dietary lipid.