The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Congratulations to Dr. Leonardo Ibarra-Castro who recently published a paper titled "Advances in spotted rose snapper (Lutjanus guttatus, Steindachner, 1869) juveniles production" in Revista de Investigaciones Marinas.
This study describes the advances in spotted rose snapper Lutjanus guttatus juveniles production. The broodstock (three groups, each of ten females, mean ± SD: 0.91 ± 0.2 kg and 20 males 1.2 ± 0.3 kg) with two years, were acclimated for 1.5 years in three communal cylindrical fiberglass tanks (18-m3). Fertilized eggs were obtained during natural spawning seasons. Floating eggs (average 90 ± 2%) were collected between 12 to 14 h after spawning. An average of 97% of them were transparent with live embryos. For the larval rearing process, initial stocking densities were 196 ± 70 embryos/l, incubated in twelve 6-m3 cylindrical fiberglass tanks with 3-m3 of water. The incubation period was 20 h at 26-28 °C. Hatching and survival at 48-h post-hatch (hph) were 90 ± 2% and 55 ± 10%, respectively, with an average of 281,258± 92,202 48-h
larvae per tank and 105 ± 33 larvae/l at first feeding. A total of 338,812 juveniles with 45 days post-hatched (dph) were harvested, at an average of 28,234 ± 11,890 per larval rearing tank (2.4±1.0/l), and 180,000 juveniles (BW: Body weight of 5-8 g) from the nursery tanks with 90 dph. Average survival from first feeding to end of 45 dph rearing period was 12 ± 9%. The average harvest weight was 0.47 ± 0.10 g BW and the average final biomass per larval tank was 13 kg. An efficiency index at 45 days culture was 10 / 48-h larvae/juvenile, while at 90 dph the efficiency index was 19 / 48-h larvae/juvenile. The result showed that changes to the previous culture protocols of the CIAD-Mazatlan fish plant, ensure a higher production of juveniles.