Egg quality criteria in Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru) Ivette Moguel-Hern andez 1 , Renato Pe ~ na 1 ,H ector Nolasco-Soria 2 , Silvie Dumas 1 & Patricia Hinojosa-Baltazar 2 1 Unidad Piloto de Maricultivos, Instituto Polit ecnico Nacional-Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, La Paz, M exico 2 Laboratorio de Fisiolog  ıa Comparada CIBNOR, La Paz, M exico Correspondence: R Pe~ na, Unidad Piloto de Maricultivos, CICIMAR-IPN, La Paz, M exico. E-mail: rpenam@ipn.mx Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the biochemi- cal parameters used as possible determinants of egg quality in Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru). Fertil- ized eggs of eight spawns were obtained by hormonal induction. Egg quality criteria, including abnormal cleavage (AC), hatching percentage (HR) and sur- vival percentage at first feeding (SR) were recorded. Samples were taken during embryonic development and from yolk-sac larvae. Proteins, energetic metab- olite concentrations and metabolic and digestive enzyme activities were determined using colorimetric methods. Pearson’s correlation, and simple and multiple regression models were performed using the biochemical parameters as the independent variables and AC, HR and SR as the dependant variables. Glucose-6-phosphatase activity (AC r = 0.87; HR r = À0.65; SR r = À0.67) and fructose concentra- tion (AC r = À0.64; HR r = 0.54; SR r = 0.64) were the only biochemical parameters to be strongly cor- related with the three egg quality criteria. The use of multiple regression models increased the regression coefficient of the three quality criteria. Fructose, glu- cose and glucose-6-phosphatase were involved in all multiple regression models. The models proposed in this study may be used to explain egg quality for Pacific red snapper and their use as predictors of egg quality is discussed. Keywords: Pacific red snapper, Lutjanus peru, egg quality, enzymatic activity, embryonic development Introduction There is considerable interest in developing a cul- ture programme for Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru) (Nichols & Murphy, 1922) along the Pacific Coast of Mexico due to the species’ economic importance. Research has been conducted under culture conditions to obtain spawns by hormonal injection (Dumas, Rosales-Vel azquez, Contreras- Olgu  ın, Hern andez-Ceballos & Silverberg 2004; Pelcastre-Campos 2006). However, high mortality has been observed at hatching and first feeding (unpublished data), possibly due to variability in egg quality. Egg quality refers to the potential for successful development, where survival at hatching traditionally has been used as the repre- sentative criterion (Kjorsvik, Hoehne-Reitan & Reitan 2003; Lahnsteiner & Patarnello 2005). However, a more precise estimation of egg quality is necessary to clarify whether low survival during early larval rearing is due to egg quality or to culture factors like water quality, temperature, rearing tank, etc. (Gim enez, Est evez, Lahnsteiner, Zecevic, Bell, Henderson, Pi ~ nera & Sanchez-Prado 2006). Morphological parameters, such as blastomere asymmetry during early cleavage (Shields, Brown & Bromage 1997; Rideout, Trippel & Litvak 2004) and the size and shape of the egg, yolk sac and/or oil globule (J onsson & Svavarsson 2000; Lahnsteiner & Patarnello 2005), have been identified as useful indicators of egg quality. How- ever, these parameters fail to provide information about the factors underlying that quality. As a result, biochemical parameters have been corre- lated with hatching and survival percentages (Ronnestad & Fyhn 1993; Nocillado, Pe~ naflorida & Borlongan 2000; Faulk & Holt 2008) and several components and enzymes involved in car- bohydrate metabolism have been identified as good indicators of egg quality (Lahnsteiner, © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 909 Aquaculture Research, 2015, 46, 909–917 doi: 10.1111/are.12248