Juvenile Lobster (Homarus americanus) Do Not Require Dietary Ascorbic Acid

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Abstract
We found no dietary ascorbic acid requirement for juvenile lobsters (Homarus americanus) (37–42 mg). The lobsters were fed semipurified diets containing 0, 0.6, 1.2, 2.4, or 12 g L-ascorbic acid/kg dry diet for 20 wk. At termination, the hepatopancreases were removed and assayed for ascorbic acid. There was no significant difference in growth or mortality among any of the dietary treatments. Lobsters fed the deficient diet had hepatopancreatic ascorbic acid levels that were not significantly different from animals fed the supplemented diets. Juvenile lobster, therefore, did not require dietary ascorbic acid under these experimental conditions. We suggest that juvenile lobsters do not require ascorbic acid supplementation in the diet and may be capable of de novo synthesis of this vitamin.