Summary

The aquaculture species of bass and bream belong to the order Perciformes and come from five major family groups; Latidae, Sparidae, Serranidae, Moronidae and Lutjanidae. Well known aquaculture species include Asian seabass Lates calcarifer (Latidae), the common sea breams or porgies such as Pagrus pagrus, Pagrus major, (= Pagrus auratus), gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata and common dentex Dentex dentex (all from the Sparidae), European sea bass Dicentrachus labrax, striped bass Morone saxatilus, white bass Morone chrysops and hybrid striped bass (Morone saxatilus x M. chrysops) (Moronidae) and the groupers Epinephalus sp) (Serranidae). 

All sea basses and sea breams are euryhaline and carnivorous and they generally command high market prices. Much of the research on basses and sea breams is dominated by basic nutrition and feeding research that aims to improve production efficiencies. To reflect recent advances in understanding nutrient requirements, use of alternative feed ingredients and feeding strategies for these species, new information is presented here for Asian seabass, red sea bream, gilthead sea bream and grouper. Future nutrition research with these species will continue to investigate increased use of alternative feed ingredients and reductions in the use of declining stocks of fishmeal and fish oil. The impact of new ingredients and new diet specifications on extrusion and processing technology will need to be considered. The increase in demand for high value species will demand research that improves our understanding of basic nutrient requirements for protein, amino acids, lipids or carbohydrates and a better understanding of the impacts of these factors, in conjunction with culture environmental conditions, on nutritional status, fish metabolism and health and total farm productivity.