Is it Possible to Transform Hatchery-Reared Abnormal Juveniles of Sea Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L. 1758) into Normal Individuals?

Lordosis, which is one of the skeletal deformations, was frequently encountered in the culture of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L. 1758) and it affects the biological performance and marketing image of the fish negatively. Thus it causes big economic losses. In larger natural environments, this abnormality in wild-caught individual is rare, whereas the case is the other way round in hatchery-reared sea bass. This problem can be caused by swim bladder malformations, environmental conditions, bacterial factors, water flow rate and swimming activity. However, many researchers reported that all of these factors cause these malformations in different regions of the skeletal system, commonly known as V-shaped curvatures. But in this study, it is not aimed to investigate the possible causes of the observed abnormalities. We focused on whether the abnormal individuals can be transformed into individuals with normal skeletal systems. In this study, a total number of 5636 juvenile individuals (0.09-1.93 g of live weight) were used. Lordosis rates were identified between the days 54 and 110 by randomly taking at least 30 samples from every group on a weekly basis, at triplicate. In this study, 100% of the individuals with this type of deformation were successfully transformed into individuals with the normal skeletal system in a large volume and rectangular ponds with semi-intensive rearing method.