JOURNAL OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY Vol. 41, No. 3 June, 2010 Effect of Dietary Carotenoids on Skin Color and Pigments of False Clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris, Cuvier Inayah Yasir Department of Marine Sciences, Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245 Indonesia Jian G. Qin 1 School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, 5001 SA Adelaide, Australia Abstract This study evaluated the role of supplemented dietary carotenoids in regulating the skin color and pigments of the false clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris. Three carotenoid types, such as astaxanthin, β-carotene, and canthaxanthin, were added to the basal diet at four pigment doses (0, 20, 50, and 100 ppm). Carotenoid diets were feed for 5 wk and then withdrawn from the diet for three additional wk during an 8-wk trial. The dose of each diet did not change the overall color hue, brightness, or saturation, but astaxanthin was the only carotenoid that enhanced red hue by the end of Week 5. The withdrawal of astaxanthin from the diet did not reduce the red hue, but reduced saturation. In contrast, the withdrawal of dietary β-carotene or canthaxanthin reduced color saturation and brightness, but did not affect color hue. Dietary astaxanthin increased skin astaxanthin in Week 1 and skin zeaxanthin in Week 5. The withdrawal of astaxanthin escalated skin canthaxanthin and zeaxanthin by Week 8. Dietary β-carotene suppressed skin β-carotene, but enhanced skin zeaxanthin by Week 8. Although skin canthaxanthin was enhanced by dietary β-carotene from Week 5 onward, dietary β-carotene at 100 ppm maximized skin canthaxanthin by Week 8. Interestingly, dietary canthaxanthin suppressed skin canthaxanthin and zeaxanthin, but increased β-carotene. This study suggests that astaxanthin has the potential to enhance the red hue on clownfish skin and its withdrawal from the diet did not fade the red hue of the skin. The false clownfish, Amphiprion ocellaris, has been commercially produced for aquarium hobbyists (Hoff 1996; Chapman et al. 1997). A noble reason for culturing clownfish is to protect coral reefs from destructive collection and over exploitation of the wild clownfish population (Alava and Gomes 1989; Andrews 1990). Although the culture of clownfish has been successfully achieved (Alava and Gomes 1989; Maroz and Fishelson 1997), the col- oration of farm-raised fish is inferior to their wild counterparts (Booth et al. 2004). The color of wild-caught clownfish is usually bright pink or reddish orange, while hatchery-raised fish are light orange (Tanaka et al. 1992). A recent study reported that a light intensity of 20–50 lx 1 Corresponding author. could brighten the skin color of clownfish (Yasir and Qin 2009a) and this color could add to the commercial value in the aquarium trade (Hoff 1996). Yasir and Qin (2009b) further demonstrated that a blue or green background could strengthen the orange color, whereas a white background made fish less color saturated but brighter. Our previous studies showed that clownfish could temporarily change coloration through changing light intensity or background color. However, manipulating environmental conditions is unlikely to permanently alter the pigment composition of fish skin. An alterna- tive is to explore the response of coloration of clownfish to diet manipulation. Carotenoids are biosynthesized by plants, algae, and certain yeast and bacteria (Ong and Tee 1992). Carotenoids are responsible for the red, orange, and yellow colors of fish and © Copyright by the World Aquaculture Society 2010 308