BIG deal for fish farming

Report out of Baltimore, just an hour north of here, that researchers found a way to get cobia to eat a vegetarian feed (not based on fish), which is good in itself, and apparently it supplied all their nutritional needs, too.

Baltimore researchers turn carnivorous fish into vegetarians

I have previously suggested that the invasive Asian carp (in the rivers of Illinois threatening to enter Lake Michigan) could be used for fishmeal.  Anything that takes the pressure off of menhaden is a good thing.  But this is even better;  we can always grow soybeans.  It might be a little more expensive (now), but that's because we don't count the cost of exploiting a fishery until it collapses.

How'd they do it?  After some less-than-highly-successful efforts:

"When the researchers tried a combination of soybean concentrate, protein concentrate, wheat flour and soybean meal, they made progress. The pellets that worked “are 15 to 20 percent more expensive than the commercially available feed,” Watson said. On the other hand, the cobia grew bigger and absorbed fewer contaminants."

 Good for fish and good for fish farming.  Good for the Earth.  Now, will bluefin tuna eat it?

The other thing that's good about cobia is that they can get big.  The girl in the bikini is shown for scale.