Back to Search Start Over

Growth and survival of eel leptocephali (Anguilla japonica) in low-salinity water

Authors :
Naomi Mikawa
Katsumi Tsukamoto
Toyoji Kaneko
Yoshiaki Yamada
Tomoko Utoh
Satoru Tanaka
Akihiro Okamura
Noriyuki Horie
Source :
Aquaculture. 296:367-372
Publication Year :
2009
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2009.

Abstract

We investigated the effects of low-salinity water on the growth, survival, and activity of artificially reared Japanese eel larvae (Anguilla japonica), proceeding from the assumption that such water quality saves energy due to lower cost for osmoregulation. We reared 5-day-old larvae in 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100% seawater (SW) with or without diet for 13 days. All larvae reared in 0% and 10% SW died within 6 days, while larvae in 70% and 100% SW survived until 9 days. Larvae in 30% and 50% SW further survived until 13 days without diet. Significant growth in body depth was observed in 30% and 50% SW after 7 days rearing with diet (0.65 ± 0.02 and 0.62 ± 0.02 mm, respectively) as compared with the initial size (0.49 ± 0.03 mm), while no significant growth was observed under the other salinity conditions examined. Larvae swam actively in the light (about 2000 lx) in 50%, 70%, and 100% SW, while they were apparently inactive in 0%, 10%, and 30% SW. The long-term rearing trial showed a 2.2-fold higher 2-month cumulative survival rate in 50% SW (18.2%) than in 100% SW (8.2%). The body depth of larvae in 50% SW (1.58 ± 0.47 mm) was also significantly larger than in 100% SW (1.32 ± 0.35 mm). These findings indicate that the intermediate salinity can result in better growth and survival performance in Japanese eel larvae.

Details

ISSN :
00448486
Volume :
296
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Aquaculture
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........d2dc24ce89ba77ae250f5329233420e1