Cold tolerance of the banana prawn Penaeus merguiensis de Man and its growth at different temperatures |
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Authors: | Tung Hoang S Y Lee Clive P Keenan & Gay E Marsden |
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Institution: | School of Environmental and Applied Sciences, Griffith University Gold Coast, PMB 50 GCMC, Qld 9726, Australia; Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, PO Box 2066, Bribie Island, Qld 4507, Australia |
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Abstract: | Critical thermal minima (CTMin) were determined for subadults of Penaeus merguiensis acclimated at 15, 18, 21 and 24 °C for 3 weeks. The effect of cooling rate on CTMin was also investigated. The CTMin of prawns from these respective acclimation groups were 5.3, 6.0, 7.4, 9.0 and 4.7, 5.4, 6.0, 7.3 °C at the cooling rate of 1 °C h?1 and 3 °C h?1 respectively. Both acclimation temperature and cooling rate had a significant effect (P < 0.01) on the CTMin. Observation during the acclimation period showed that the growth rate of prawns acclimated at 24 °C was much higher than those acclimated at 21, 18 and 15 °C. The results indicate that P. merguiensis can overwinter in aquaculture ponds in south‐east Queensland, Australia, or other subtropical areas and attain good growth if simple overwintering facilities are available. |
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Keywords: | thermal tolerance shrimp Penaeus merguiensis and growth |
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