Philippine E-Journals

Reproductive Biology and Mass Production of Pseudodiaptomus annandalie Sewell (Copepoda: Calanoida)

Romeo D. Caturao

 

Abstract:

Due to expensive microparticulate diets for marine fish larvae, mariculture systems shifted to alternative live feeds. P. annandalie is recommended as alternative larval feed; however, field collection is unreliable because the quantity required is variable in nature. This study examined the reproductive biology and mass production of P.annandalie. The reproductive biology was characterized by egg, nauplii, copepodite and total abundances, and fecundity through feeding various locally available microalgal species and at different salinity levels. Except for scaling up, all experiments were conducted in complete randomized design and data were analyzed by ANOVA at 0.05 alpha using SPSS. Results showed that reproductive biology of P. annandalie cultured for 20 days is better enhanced by microalgal species (Chaetoceros calcitrans) at lower salinity of 20 ppt. Scale-up and mass production was possible through a multi-step method. It is recommended that nutritional studies should be explored to improve fecundity of this species.