DO WHITE WORMS Enchytraeus albidus HAVE COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL AS A FEED IN THE ORNAMENTAL INDUSTRY?  

Elizabeth A. Fairchild*, Michael Chambers, and Michelle L. Walsh
Department of Biological Sciences
University of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire 03824 USA
elizabeth.fairchild@unh.edu

White worms, Enchytraeus albidus, an oligochaete, are an attractive live feed for many cultured organisms including fresh and saltwater fishes. Historically they were mass cultivated in the former U.S.S.R. to feed juvenile sturgeon. Now they mostly are grown by aquarium hobbyists as a live feed for ornamental fishes or by biological supply companies for toxicology studies. At the University of New Hampshire, we have been exploring the potential of commercial scale cultivation of white worms and their market within the aquaculture industry. Advantages of using live white worms include: the low input costs and simplistic techniques for feeding and maintaining worm cultures; white worms have tested pathogen-free of all viral, bacterial, and parasitic assays screened so far; white worms are euryhaline and will survive in both fresh and full saline water, wriggle and attract predators, and do not impair water quality as they remain alive; their residency time in aquaculture systems is longer as they are bottom-dwelling and are not easily flushed out like other traditional live feeds; and in the majority of small-scale hatchery trials, ornamental fishes have readily consumed white worms. While these results are promising, there still are some limitations to commercial scale white worm culture. Amongst those confines are automating the white worm harvesting process, and overcoming upper limit thermal conditions of white worms encountered in aquaculture facilities in southern climes. In this talk, we will present the latest ornamental industry feedback generated from testing live white worms in commercial facilities.