Comparison of the Reproductive Performance of Similarly-Sized Wild and Captive Farfantepenaeus paulensis

The reproduction of wild-caught Farfantepenaeus paulensis in captivity has been successfully achieved since 1983. However, year-round supply of wild broodstock is costly and unpredictable. This study compares the reproductive performance of animals of similar size (females from 32–33 g and males from 19–21 g) but from different sources: estuary-caught juveniles reared indoors for 9 mo and wild-caught adults from shallow coastal waters. Groups of 20 males and 30 unilaterally eyestalk-ablated females were maintained for 60 d in four maturation tanks under controlled environmental conditions. A higher number of eggs per spawning event (78,414 ± 34,491) and total egg production (4,469,600) were observed for the wild females. Nevertheless, captive females produced a higher number of nauplii (1,788,259) due to their higher percentage of fertilized spawns. Therefore, within the size range of this study, the reproductive performance of estuary-caught F. paulensis juveniles over-wintered indoors was found to be equivalent to that of wild-caught females from shallow coastal waters.