Untitled - CNR

Marine research at CNRParazoanthus axinellaeExplosion of nematocystNematocystCCDDFigure 4: Research activity on cnidarians. Antibacterial assay on Petri dishes usingParaxoanthus axinellae nematocysts extract: (A) control, (B) bacteria treated with nematocystextract. Note the inhibition of bacterial growth in the treatment in comparisonwith the control. Scanning electron micrographs of the bacterial strain employed in theantibacterial test: (C) control, (D) bacteria after the treatment with nematocyst extract.Note the bacteria lysis and the loss of the flagellum. Scale bar 0 1 µm.matter from aquaculture wastes other thana resource of marketable value (e.g. asa source of agar exploitable in the foodindustry, as a fertilizer in agriculture, asa valuable substitute for soya, as a valuablecomponent of omnivorous fish fodder,as a source of essential microelementsand OMEGA-3). In the framework of appliedresearch, studies on these species arehighly recommended in order to assess thequalitative and organoleptic features and toevaluate the potential of low-cost farmingfor harvesting high-value products.The ACTIBIOMAR project is focusedon the development of new technologiesaimed toward the exploitation of marinebiomasses. The research purpose isto investigate the potential employmentof some marine organisms [polychaetes,cnidarians and macroalgae (Figure 1)] assources of:- biologically active secondary metabolites,matter of interest to pharmaceutics;- foodstuffs at high nutritional content usefulto the fodder industry as enrichmentand/or alternative innovating fodder fornourishment of marine fishes reared inintensive aquaculture farms.2 MethodsThe scheduled scientific activities of theproject were:- evaluation of the growth capability of2047