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Marine research at CNRFigure 3: Cortisol concentration in Dicentrarchus labrax cultured in submerged (sub)and surface (surf) cages. Reported are the result of the Student t-test: ∗ = p < 0.05,∗∗ = p < 0.01, no indications is reported when difference is not significant.SRBC, where 100% haemolysis was calculatedby incubation with distilled water ofthe SRBC suspension.Lysozyme content was measured on samplesof mucus, serum and kidney, accordingto the plate diffusion method [25, 26].Lysozyme content was evaluated by measuringthe diameter of lysis produced into1% agar plates added with 0.05% Micrococcuslysodeikticus cells, incubated at33°C for 22°C.3 Results and Discussion3.1 Growth parametersFigure 1 shows the monthly trend of totalwet weight of the two groups of D.labrax during the experimentation period.Although there were no significant differencesin wet weight, fish cultured in submergedcage reached the largest size.No significant differences were shownin specific growth rate between the twogroups, even though group sub showed apeak in May-Jun and Sept-Oct. The twopopulations showed a positive trend, exceptfor the month of Apr to May (Figure2).The overlapping of the growth curves forthe fish cultured in surface cage and thosecultured in submerged cage was also confirmedby the relative condition factor K.The relative condition factor showed thatincreases in weight and length did not leadto a corresponding increase in this factor.Under the environmental conditionspresent during the trial, submerged andcontrol European sea bass, experiencedbroadly similar light and temperatureregimes, as control fish preferred to swimat depths in the cage which were similar tothose at which submerged fish swam.The results from this trial contrast withall previous commercial scale sea-cage2153