Ascidians of the genus Ciona parasitise mussel and oyster cultures and are saturated with salt water. Their use as animal feed or as fertilizer requires that they be desalted, which can be achieved by boiling them. This, however, leads to a 25 to 30% loss in nitrogen content and 35 to 40% loss in phosphorus. The concentration of amino acids in the proteins of Ciona is quite comparable to many feed proteins, and must be supplemented with tryptophan, leucine and possibly lysine to be complete.
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