Mitigating the effects of stress during the early life stages of fish is a critical challenge for the aquaculture industry and for biomedical research that uses zebrafish as an experimental model. In this context, the FORTIFISH project aims to develop fortified functional feeds that promote the welfare and health of marine fish (seabass and gilthead seabream) and zebrafish. This innovative project focuses on formulating peptide‑fortified feeds for the early stages of seabass, seabream and zebrafish, previously shown in the NOSTRESS project (ALG‑01‑0247‑FEDER‑047122) to reduce the impact of stress factors and improve production efficiency from the earliest developmental phases.
The consortium is led by SPAROS, an SME pioneering aquaculture nutrition, in co‑promotion with ATLANTIKFISH and several leading scientific partners: the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL), the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM), the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the collaborative laboratory S2AQUA, the Champalimaud Foundation, and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S). The FORTIFISH functional solution aims to optimise animal welfare and fish‑rearing practices at an industrial scale during the early life stages in aquaculture, targeting hatcheries and the pre‑ongrowing phase of marine fish, as well as the biomedical sector through zebrafish.