Suitability of water salinity for hatching and survival ofnewly hatched larvae of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus

Abstract

Experiments were conducted between July and December 2012 at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia, to determine the effect of water salinity on the hatching rate and survival of newly hatched larvae of climbing perch Anabas testudineus. A total of 2,700 morula stage embryos of climbing perch were directly transferred to water salinities of 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 ppt at 27-28C. Control embryos were incubated alike in freshwater. Hatching rate (i.e. total and viable hatchings) and the survival of newly hatched larvae were recorded. Results showed the highest total hatching (97.3%) and viable hatching (95.3%) were both observed at 3 ppt. The survival of newly hatched larvae was highest at 3 ppt (90.0%), but was not significantly different (p>0.05) from the control (86.0%). Thus, our results suggest the feasibility to culture climbing perch in a slightly saline environment (i.e. 3 ppt) particularly during the endogenous feeding stage to increase the larval survival.

Keywords

• Anabas testudineus
• climbing perch
• hatching rate
• water salinity
• newly hatched larvae