THE REMEDIA LIFE INTEGRATED MULTITROPHIC AQUACULTURE SYSTEM AS A POWERFUL SPONGE BIOMASS SUPPLY

The present study was undertaken to assess the survival and the growth rate of the sponges Abstract The present study was undertaken to assess the survival and the growth rate of the sponges Aplysina aerophoba (Nardo1833)Geodia cydonium (Linnaeus1767) Hymeniacidon perlevis (Montagu 1814) and Ircinia variabilis (Schmidt, 1862) within an integrated multitrophic aquaculture system (IMTA) to highlight their suitability for a circular blue economyDonor sponges were cut into explants and arranged in net bags to monthly monitor their rearing performance in terms of survival and volumetric growth rates All sponge species showed a high survival ratio not lower than 95%Similarly, most species showed values of more than 7% monthly volume increase (with values up to 16% for Aaerophoba) and final volumes more than 150% of the initial (Aaerophoba reaching 400%)These results make these sponge species