Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Growth and production potential of young grouper Epinephelus tauvina (Forskal) reared in fixed net cages.

Volume 34 Issue 1&2

K. M. S. Ameer Hamsa and H. Mohamad Kasim

Abstract

Growth of Epinephelus tauvina was studied in the fixed cage culture system in Mandapam (Gulf of Mannar) coastal waters employing net cages of 5 x 5 x 2 m dimension made of HDPE net material with 20 mm mesh size. The fishes were fed with trash-fish once in 2 days arid the culture period varied from 163 days to 334 days. The average growth increment in length was 145.5 mm in 8.71 months at the rate of 16.3 mm/month and the average growth increment in weight was 413.9 g at the rate of 47.5 g/month. The basic growth data were subjected to various statistical analysis and different parameters have been estimated. The asymptotic growth Loc is 671 mm, the growth constant K is 0.4619 and the age at 0 length t_o is assumed to be O. The life span is estimated to be 10.7 yrs and the natural mortality coefficient M is 0.4333 at 1 % survival level. The optimum age for harvesting is estimated to be 3 yrs and the optimum culture period which can yielo the highest production for this species is 28 months for the prevailing age at stocking of 8 months. The cost and return of this culture technique is also discussed.

Date : 31-10-1992