The purpose of this grant was to undertake collaborative research into the lipid and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolism of Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) using a SBT cell line that was recently produced. This project followed an international trend towards increasing fish oil replacement in feeds for farmed fish to improve the sustainability of the target industry.

Very little is known about dietary fish oil replacement in Bluefin tuna species so the purpose of this research was to obtain data which may be used to predict the impacts of fish oil replacement in future manufactured feeds for farmed SBT. Since it was logistically difficult and expensive to obtain such data from traditional feeding trials with SBT, the approach using the SBT cell lines offered a more rapid and cost-effective alternative.