Effects
of bottom substratum on survival and growth of early juveniles of blue
swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus
(Linnaeus,
1758) in captivity
S.M.
Shoyaib Kohinoor1, A. Arshad1*, S.M. Nurul Amin1,
M. Aminur Rahman2,3, Mohd. S. Kamarudin1 and J.A. Al
Khayat4
1Department of
Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM
Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
2World Fisheries
University Pilot Programme, Pukyong National University (PKNU), 45 Yongso-ro,
Nam-gu, Busan 48513, Korea
3Laboratory of
Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
4 Department of
Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Science, Qatar
University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
*Corresponding
Author E-mail: azizar.upm@gmail.com
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Key
words
Bottom substratum
Cannabalism
Captivity
Growth rate
Portunus pelagicus
Publication Data
Paper received : 25.05.2017
Revised received : 20.08.2017
Re-revised received :
15.10.2017
Accepted : 28.12.2017?
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Abstract
Aim: Cannibalism
remains a limiting factor during the nursery culture of crabs. This study was
undertaken to improve the rearing techniques by investigating the impact of
bottom substratum on crablet survival and growth. The knowledge gained from
the research will be useful for the communal seed culture and development of
crab farming, which are important factors regarding farmers' job stability in
the future. ??
Methodology: Blue swimming
crab, Portunus pelagicus (first settled (C1 crabs); initial average
weight and SD of 0.02 ? 0.01g) were cultured in glass aquarium (90 x 44 x 34
cm) and their survival and growth were assessed after 22 days of culture in
four types of substratum such as control (none), sand, soil, or sand + soil.
All treatments had 25 juvenile crabs, each of which was triplicated.? Feeding
was done twice a day (9 am and 5 pm) to apparent satiation. ?
Results: Survival of early
juvenile crabs cultured with sand was substantially higher at 65.33 ? 6.11%
than those cultured with soil, sand + soil or control at 29.33 ? 10.07%,
28.00 ? 8.00%, and 21.33 ? 6.11%, respectively. Growth performance (such as
final weight, weight gain and specific growth rate) of the early juvenile of P.
pelagicus in all treatments were not significantly different (p>0.05).
Interpretation: Overall, the best
survival was achieved with sand substratum and can be recommended as a mean
of reducing cannibalism during the early nursery rearing of blue swimming
crab juveniles under captive culture conditions.
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