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Lookup NU author(s): Tabitha Carr, Dr Maureen WakefieldORCiD, Dr Gary Caldwell
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 by the authors. Augmenting aquaculture feeds with black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) larvae is an emerging solution to the industry’s fishmeal and fish oil dependence. However, the larva’s nutritional plasticity often results in bioaccumulation of metals from the rearing substrates. Larvae can be nutritionally enriched with microalgae, but research investigating growth impacts and metals uptake are lacking. In this study, a Stichococcaceae algae strain that is used to phycoremediate effluent from commercial anaerobic digesters was investigated as a rearing substrate. Larvae were reared on chicken feed enriched with stepped ratios of algae and spent coffee grounds (a reference waste feed). Growth, survival and metals content (ICP-OES) were recorded when 10% of larvae were prepupal. Survival was >98.5% across all treatments with a trend of increased growth with microalgal inclusion, and no significant impact of metals on growth. Metals uptake as determined by a bioaccumulation factor was significantly lower in the highest algae treatment compared to the coffee-only treatment. Larvae consistently accumulated cadmium and lead whereas arsenic bioaccumulation was only observed in three treatments. Cadmium had the highest bioaccumulation factor (up to 4.06) and arsenic the lowest (down to 0.41). Larvae did not exceed current European Union maximum metal ions levels for inclusion into aquafeeds. These findings highlight the potential of using Stichococcaceae to enrich black soldier fly larvae, offering a dual sustainable solution for wastewater remediation and aquaculture feed provision.
Author(s): Carr TJ, Wakefield ME, Caldwell GS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Phycology
Year: 2026
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Online publication date: 19/05/2026
Acceptance date: 08/05/2026
Date deposited: 15/07/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2673-9410
Publisher: MDPI
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/phycology6020054
DOI: 10.3390/phycology6020054
Data Access Statement: Datasets available on request from the authors.
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