EFFECT OF FOOD ENRICHMENT ON GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF SEAHORSE FRY HIPPOCAMPUS REIDI UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS

Abstract

Seahorses natural populations are declining, due to theri demand in traditional Chinese medicine, its consumption in oriental countries and their attractive as ornamental species; then, all the Hippocampus species of the genus are threatened fishes. Culture under controlled conditions is an option for their conservation and sustainable use; however, it is necessary to fin the appropiate techniques to culture them, especially to raise the fry. In this study the effect of live food on growth an survival of Hippocampus reidi fry was evaluated. During the first 11 days they were fede with Artemia nauplii and rotifers enriched, since the day 11 to 46 only with enriched Artemia metanauplii with four commercial products: Protein Selco Plus^® (PSP), marine fish food Azoo 9 in 1^® (AZ), Scott Emulsion^® (SE) and Isochrysis galbana microalgae (IG). The largest growth in therms of weight and height was observed in seahorses fed with enriched Artemia with PSP (160.13 mg and 4.44 cm respectively), which was significantly higher than the other treatments, which were kept in a range of 81-86-97380 mg in weight and 3.62-3.72 cm in size (F_3.12 = 9.63, p = 0.0049 by weight and F_3.12 = 5.12, p = 0.0288 in height). There were not significant differences in survival; however the highest percentage was in PSP diet (74.42%) and lower in SE (51.60%) (F_3.12 = 1.08, p = 0.4095).