The list of species that are farmed through aquaculture is long and getting longer. In order to be successfully "aquacultured", 2 basic criteria are necessary:

a) mastery of the life-cycle:
Knowing how to breed the adult fish and be able to rear an egg to the adult size

b) control of the growing process:
Knowledge of  the nutritional and behavioural requirements of the fish in order to assure efficient husbandry

In Europe, there are many different species that are subject to aquaculture and these include:

• Salmonids
  • Salmon species - mainly Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
  • Trout species - including Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Brown trout (Salmon trutta), Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).
• Carps or cyprinids
  • The major species is the common carp (Cyprinus carpio).
• Seabasses
  • This common name covers a lot of different fish families and species - the main one used for aquaculture is the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax).
• Seabreams
  • As with seabass, seabream can be used for many species but the most popular species produced is Sparus aurata, the gilthead seabream.
• Eels
  • There is only one eel species produced, this is Anguilla anguilla, the European eel.

Additional species include turbot and halibut (flatfish), sturgeon, catfish, tilapia and even tuna. While many other species are the subject of research and development work, it takes a long time to move from initial interest to commercial production.