Survival of captive milkfish Chanos chanos Forsskal broodstock subjected to handling and transport

The survival of milkfish broodstock (body weight range 1–11 kg) was determined until 30 days after handling and transport in open tanks or in sealed oxygenated bags containing chilled sea water (20–25 °C). Maintenance of cool sea water was achieved by the gradual addition of ice chunks or frozen gel packs. A survival rate of 50% after transporting fish at a loading density of 45 kg m^?3 for 4 h in open tanks was not significantly different from those that were handled but not transported (86%). Similarly, survival rates (67–83%) among broodstock confined for 8 h in chilled sea water at 40 and 60 kg m^?3 were not significantly different from each other or from a group not subjected to confinement. Nevertheless, low dissolved oxygen (DO) and accumulation of total ammonia–nitrogen beginning 1 h after transport and confinement may be responsible for low survival rates of milkfish in open tanks. In contrast, all milkfish survived 10 h of overland transport in sealed bags with chilled and diluted (28 g L^?1) sea water. Likewise, all milkfish survived after being bagged and immediately transferred to a communal rearing tank, or bagged and placed in a styrofoam box for 10 h. Except for total ammonia–nitrogen levels, which increased slightly (0.7–0.8 mg L^?1) above background, seawater temperature (20–24 °C), salinity (28 g L^?1) and DO (6 to > 20 mg mL^?1) titres in transport bags were maintained during the 10‐h test. The effectiveness of handling and transporting milkfish broodstock in sealed bags containing chilled sea water was verified in actual field trials. Spawning of sexually mature milkfish subjected to these stressors was not impaired. These results demonstrate that mortalities of large milkfish broodstock can be minimized when fish are handled and transported in sealed oxygenated bags containing chilled sea water.     

Effect of recovery salinity on survival of acutely stressed halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus L) larvae

First‐feeding halibut larvae (245‐day degrees; 40 days post hatch), reared at 34 g L^?1 salinity and 7°C, were subjected to handling and allowed to recover in a range of salinities (0–34 g L^?1) and at 10°C. Survival of the unfed larvae was determined daily for 18 days. Mortality rates approached 0 after 4 days in all treatments and presumed starvation‐induced mortality started at about 11 days post handling. By 20 days post treatments, all larvae had died. Salinities in the range of 10–20 g L^?1 produced significantly (anova , P<0.01) higher initial survival (71–95%) than salinities above 20 g L^?1 (24–48%) or below 10 g L^?1 (0–19%) and this survival pattern changed little in unfed larvae for the first 10 days following the stressor. For example, 24 hour post handling, survival of halibut was improved from 28.7±16.5% (mean±standard error, n=3) at 34.0 g L^?1 to 95.2±4.8% at 13 g L^?1. A second‐order polynomial regression of 4‐day post‐handling survival data (y=?0.002x ²+0.0603x+0.0699, r²=0.3936) predicted a maximum survival at 15.1 g L^?1 salinity. These results have important implications for halibut aquaculture and research when handling of larvae is unavoidable. For practical applications, we recommend reducing salinity of receiving waters to 15–20 g L^?1 with a slow (3–4 days) reacclimation to ambient conditions.     

Feces Production and Ammonia Excretion of Pacific Abalone,Haliotis discus hannai,Fed Kelp,Laminaria japonica,in Relation to Water Temperature and Shell Length

Nitrogen excreted by aquatic animals mainly takes the form of metabolic wastes such as feces and ammonia, which is accumulated in the intensive aquaculture system and causes serious environmental contamination. So it is very important to determine the waste excretion characteristics of aquatic animals for the development of practical and nonpolluting land‐based aquaculture. Abalone has a unique feeding habit and feeding regime, different from those of finfish; abalone gnaw feed seaweed to produce feces and ammonia continuously. In this study, the rates of feces production and ammonia excretion of pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, of three shell lengths (3, 5, and 7 cm) were investigated under three different temperature conditions (12, 16, and 20 C). All experiments were performed in triplicate in a semirecirculating aquaculture system. Feces were collected for 5 d, and ammonia concentrations (total ammonia nitrogen [TAN]) in the tank inlet and outlet were monitored every 4‐h interval for 24 h at the fourth day of the feces collection. The regressions for the weight‐specific feces production rate (g feces/kg abalone/d) and the weight‐specific TAN excretion rate (mg TAN/kg abalone/d) in relation to water temperature (T, C) and shell length (L, cm) were weight‐specific feces production rate = exp(1.575 ? 281.2/T² – 0.142L), r² = 0.9550, and weight‐specific TAN excretion rate = exp(5.052 ? 277.1/T² ? 0.136L), r² = 0.9598. Pacific abalone produced 108.3–111.7 g feces and excreted 3.83 g TAN/kg seaweed ingested (dry weight).     

Effects of temperature on growth of juvenile blackfoot abalone, Haliotis iris Gmelin

The effects of temperature on growth and survival of juvenile blackfoot abalone, Haliotis iris, were investigated. Animals of 10, 30 or 60 mm initial shell length were exposed to ambient (6–10°C), 14, 18, 22 and 26°C for 112 days in a flow‐through culture system. Maximum growth occurred at 22°C for the 10 and 30 mm size classes and at 18°C for the 60 mm size class. Regression analysis identified the optimal temperature for growth (T_optG) at around 21°C for the 10 and 30 mm size classes and at 17–18°C for the largest size class. In a second experiment, the critical thermal maximum of H. iris was determined as a measure of thermal tolerance. Abalone were subjected to increasing water temperatures at a rate of 2°C h^?1 until they detached from the substrate. Abalone of 10 mm displayed greater thermal tolerance than abalone of 30 and 60 mm in length. CT₅₀ temperatures were 28.8, 27.7 and 27.8°C, yielding deduced T_optG values of 19.7, 18.3 and 18.4°C for the 10, 30 and 60 mm size classes respectively. The size‐dependent nature of the relationship between growth and temperature could be capitalized upon in recirculating aquaculture systems.     

Effect of salinity on survival, growth, oxygen consumption and ammonia-N excretion of juvenile whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

In this study, we tested the lower salinity tolerance of juvenile shrimps (Litopenaeus vannamei) at a relatively low temperature (20 °C). In the first of two laboratory experiments, we first abruptly transferred shrimps (6.91 ± 0.05 g wet weight, mean ± SE) from the rearing salinity (35 000 mg L^?1) to salinities of 5000, 15 000, 25 000, 35 000 (control) and 40 000 mg L^?1 at 20 °C. The survival of L. vannamei juvenile was not affected by salinities from 15 000 to 40 000 mg L^?1 during the 96‐h exposure periods. Shrimps exposed to 5000 mg L^?1 were significantly affected by salinity, with a survival of 12.5% after 96 h. The 24‐, 48‐ and 96‐h lethal salinity for 50% (LS₅₀) were 7020, 8510 and 9540 mg L^?1 respectively. In the second experiment, shrimps (5.47 ± 0.09 g wet weight, mean ± SE) were acclimatized to the different salinity levels (5000, 15 000, 25 000, 35 000 and 40 000 mg L^?1) and then maintained for 30 days at 20 °C. Results showed that the survival was significantly lower at 5000 mg L^?1 than at other salinity levels, but the final wet weight under 5000 mg L^?1 treatment was significantly higher than those under other treatments (P<0.05). Feed intake (FI) of shrimp under 5000 mg L^?1 was significantly lower than those of shrimp under 150 00–40 000 mg L^?1; food conversion efficiency (FCE), however, showed a contrasting change (P<0.05). Furthermore, salinity significantly influenced the oxygen consumption rates, ammonia‐N excretion rates and the O/N ratio of test shrimps (P<0.05). The results obtained in our work provide evidence that L. vannamei juveniles have limited capacity to tolerate salinities <10 000 mg L^?1 at a relatively low temperature (20 °C). Results also show that L. vannamei juvenile can recover from the abrupt salinity change between 15 000 and 40 000 mg L^?1 within 24 h.     

Toxicity of chlorine to different sizes of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) in low-salinity shrimp pond water

An experiment was conducted, in a dark room with controlled temperature (27.3–28.4 °C), to determine the acute toxicity of chlorine concentration to black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon fabicus) of sizes 0.02 g, 2.75 g, 8.47 g and 23.65 g. Toxicity tests on each of these shrimp sizes were run in triplicate in glass jars under static conditions without media renewal. The concentration of active chlorine that killed 50% of the shrimp of each size after 24‐h exposure (LC₅₀‐24 h) was used as an indicator of acute toxicity. Chlorine concentrations applied in the shrimp toxicity test ranged from 2.0 to 14.5 mg L^?1 in shrimp pond water. As the test water contained total suspended solids of 22.0–85.0 mg L^?1 and total ammonia nitrogen of 0.18–0.40 mg L^?1, the resultant concentrations of combined residual chlorine ranged from 0.6 to 3.5 mg L^?1, which were the effective doses causing shrimp mortality. The test results showed that 24‐h LC₅₀ for average shrimp size at 0.02, 2.75, 8.47 and 23.65 g occurred in water containing combined residual chlorine at a concentration of 0.91, 1.39, 1.74 and 1.98 mg L^?1, for which the original application doses were 6.96, 2.05 11.50 and 13.34 mg L^?1 respectively.     

Use of Ox‐Aquaculture© for disinfection of live prey and meagre larvae,Argyrosomus regius (Asso, 1801)

Live prey used for marine larval fish (rotifers and Artemia) as well as intensive larval rearing conditions are susceptible to the proliferation of bacteria that are the cause for reduced growth and larval mortality. Hydrogen peroxide has been recently proved a good disinfectant in aquaculture, either for eggs, larvae or live prey. In this study the effects of a hydrogen peroxide‐based product, Ox‐Aquaculture^©, on live prey (rotifers and Artemia) and meagre larvae bacterial load, composition and final status have been tested. A 34.6% reduction of total heterotrophic bacteria and 59.7% of Vibrionaceae were obtained when rotifers were exposed for 15 min to 40 mg L^?1 of the product. A 34.3% reduction of total heterotrophic bacteria and 37.7% of Vibrionaceae were obtained when Artemia were exposed for 5 min to 8000 mg L^?1 of the product. More than 95% reduction of total heterotrophic bacteria and 75% of Vibrionaceae were obtained when meagre larvae were exposed for 1 h to 20 mg L^?1 of the product. Furthermore, disinfection of enriched live prey with the product did not change the fatty acid composition and survival of the live prey and improved final larval survival.     

Cage colour and post-harvest K+ concentration affect skin colour of Australian snapper Pagrus auratus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

In an attempt to improve post‐harvest skin colour in cultured Australian snapper Pagrus auratus, a two‐factor experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of a short‐term change in cage colour before harvest, followed by immersion in K⁺‐enriched solutions of different concentrations. Snapper supplemented with 39 mg unesterified astaxanthin kg^?1 for 50 days were transferred to black (for 1 day) or white cages (for 1 or 7 days) before euthanasia by immersing fish in seawater ice slurries supplemented with 0, 150, 300, 450 or 600 mmol L^?1 K⁺ for 1 h. Each treatment was replicated with five snapper (mean weight=838 g) held individually within 0.2 m³ cages. L^*, a^* and b^* skin colour values of all fish were measured after removal from K⁺ solutions at 0, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h. After immersion in K⁺ solutions, fish were stored on ice. Both cage colour and K⁺ concentration significantly affected post‐harvest skin colour (P<0.05), and there was no interaction between these factors at any of the measurement times (P>0.05). Conditioning dark‐coloured snapper in white surroundings for 1 day was sufficient to significantly improve skin lightness (L^*) after death. Although there was no difference between skin lightness values for fish held for either 1 or 7 days in white cages at measurement times up to 12 h, fish held in white cages for 7 days had significantly higher L^* values (i.e. they were lighter) after 24 and 48 h of storage on ice than those held only in white cages for 1 day. K⁺ treatment also affected (improved) skin lightness post harvest although not until 24 and 48 h after removal of fish from solutions. Before this time, K⁺ treatment had no effect on skin lightness. Snapper killed by seawater ice slurry darkened (lower L^*) markedly during the first 3 h of storage in contrast with all K⁺ treatments that prevented darkening. After 24 and 48 h of storage on ice, fish exposed to 450 and 600 mmol L^?1 K⁺ were significantly lighter than fish from seawater ice slurries. In addition, skin redness (a^*) and yellowness (b^*) were strongly dependent on K⁺ concentration. The initial decline in response to K⁺ was overcome by a return of a^* and b^* values with time, most likely instigated by a redispersal of erythrosomes in skin erythrophores. Fish killed with 0 mmol L^?1 K⁺ maintained the highest a^* and b^* values after death, but were associated with darker (lower L^*) skin colouration. It is concluded that a combination of conditioning snapper in white surroundings for 1 day before harvest, followed by immersion in seawater ice slurries supplemented with 300–450 mmol L^?1 K⁺ improves skin pigmentation after >24 h of storage on ice.     

Low‐density culture of red abalone juveniles,Haliotis rufescens Swainson 1822, recirculating aquaculture system and flow‐through system

Commercial abalone culture is carried out using flow‐through systems with a high water volume exchange in Baja California, Mexico. The objective of this work was to compare the growth rate and survival of red abalone cultured in two systems. Flow through (daily water exchange rate of 800%) and recirculating systems consisted of a 250 L fibreglass tank and constant aeration, but biofiltration in the recirculating system was provided with a 28 L (1 ft³) bubble‐washed bead filter. Water variables were measured either daily (dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and salinity) or three times a week (total ammonia nitrogen, nitrate‐nitrogen, nitrite‐nitrogen and alkalinity). Shell length was measured every 2 weeks for 18 weeks. Only the alkalinity and pH were significantly different due to the addition of sodium bicarbonate to the recirculating system. Abalone growth rate was 26.1 ± 15.96 μm day^?1 in the recirculating systems and 22.21 ± 18.69 μm day^–1 in the flow‐through systems. The final survival was 78.74% in the recirculating systems and 71.82% in the flow‐through systems. Significant differences in the final size and survival of the abalones were found between systems (P<0.05). Therefore, recirculating aquaculture systems is a feasible alternative for juvenile red abalone culture.     

The effect of animal size on the ability of Haliotis midae L. to utilize selected dietary protein sources

The effect of animal size on the qualitative protein requirements of two size classes of Haliotis midae L. was assessed by feeding 12 semi‐purified single protein test diets (20% protein, 6% lipid) to juvenile and young adult animals (10–20‐ and 40–50‐mm initial shell length). The protein sources selected for the trial comprised four fishmeals, casein, spirulina, abalone viscera silage, brewery waste, torula yeast, carcass, sunflower and cotton seed meals. The results indicated that in terms of growth and feed efficiency, the fishmeals and spirulina were the most suitable candidates for use as primary protein sources in formulated feeds, and with the exceptions of the carcass meal and brewery waste, the remaining protein sources demonstrated promise as partial primary protein source replacements. Mean growth rates for the large and small abalone over the experimental period were 1.45 and 1.24 mm month^?1 respectively. With respect to the larger size class of abalone, the smaller abalone displayed significantly reduced growth (F = 64.7, P < 0.0001), feed conversion ratio (F = 16.6, P < 0.0001) and protein efficiency (F = 26.8, P < 0.0001). Two‐way analysis of variance revealed significant interactions between protein source, animal size and feed conversion ratio (F = 2.4, P < 0.01) and growth (F = 5.4, P < 0.05), thus indicating that qualitative differences exist between the dietary protein requirements of the juvenile and young adult abalone.     

Do predators,handling stress or field acclimation periods influence the survivorship of hatchery‐reared abalone Haliotis kamtschatkana outplanted into natural habitats?

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Effects of temperature and salinity on oxygen consumption of tawny puffer Takifugu flavidus juvenile

The respiratory rates of Tawny puffer Takifugu flavidus juvenile were measured at four temperatures (20, 23, 26 and 29 °C) and seven salinities (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 g L^?1). The results showed that both temperature and salinity significantly affected the oxygen consumption of tawny puffer juvenile. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) increased significantly with an increase in the temperature from 20 to 29 °C. Over the entire experimental temperature range (20–29 °C), the Q₁₀ value was 1.59, and the lowest Q₁₀ value was found between 23 and 26 °C. The optimal temperature for the juvenile lies between 23 °C and 26 °C. The OCR at 25 g L^?1 was the highest among all salinity treatments. The OCRs show a parabolic relationship with salinity (5–35 g L^?1). From the quadratic relationship, the highest OCR was predicted to occur at 23.56 g L^?1. The optimal salinity range for the juvenile is from 23 to 25 g L^?1. The results of this study are useful towards facilitating an increase in the production of the species juvenile culture.     

Effect of Feeding Regime on Compensatory Growth of Juvenile Abalone,Haliotis discus hannai,Fed on the Dry Sea Tangle,Laminaria japonica

Effect of feeding regime on compensatory growth of juvenile abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) fed on the dry sea tangle (Laminaria japonica) was determined. Thirty juvenile abalone averaging 15.7 g were randomly stocked into 18 50‐L plastic rectangular containers each. Six treatments were prepared in triplicate: Abalone were fed the dry sea tangle once a day at a satiation level with a little leftover for 16 wk as the control (Con) and other abalone were fed the dry sea tangle once a day at a satiation level with a little leftover for 15 wk after 1‐wk starvation (S1 treatment), 14 wk after 2‐wk starvation (S2 treatment), 13 wk after 3‐wk starvation (S3 treatment), 12 wk after 4‐wk starvation (S4 treatment), and 10 wk after 6‐wk starvation (S6 treatment), respectively. A linear relationship between weight change of abalone and wk of starvation was observed: Y (Weight of abalone) = ?0.17X (Wk of starvation) + 15.89 (R ² = 0.9462) (P < 0.0001). The highest survival of abalone was achieved in the S2 treatment, but not different from that of abalone in the Con, S1 and S3 treatments. Weight gain of abalone in the Con treatment was higher than that of abalone in the S4 and S6 treatments. Abalone fed on the dry sea tangle seemed to be able to achieve full compensatory growth up to 3‐wk starvation.     

Uptake and metabolism of a particulate form of ascorbic acid by Artemia nauplii and juveniles

A study was conducted to establish whether a particulate form of ascorbic acid (AA), ascorbyl‐2‐phosphate (A2P), could be used to enrich Artemia. In the first experiment, we examined the efficiency of A2P conversion to and maintenance of AA by juvenile Artemia (1.5 mm, 5‐day‐old) held at 9000 L^?1 and 28 °C for 24 h. Maximal uptake and assimilation was >10 000 μg AA g^?1 dry weight (dw) (representing >1%Artemia dw) at enrichment rates of ≥1.2 g A2P L^?1. In the second experiment, a similar biomass of instar II/III nauplii (1 mm, 2‐day‐old) and juvenile (2.5 mm, 8‐day‐old) Artemia were enriched for 6 or 24 h at 28 °C before starvation for 6 or 24 h at 18 or 28 °C. At 0 h and after 6 and 24 h enrichment, AA levels were 485, 3468 and 11 080 μg g^?1 dw in nauplii and 122, 4286 and 12 470 μg g^?1 dw in juveniles. When Artemia nauplii or juveniles were enriched for 6 h and starved for 6 h at 18 or 28 °C, there was no significant reduction in AA. Continuation of starvation to 24 h at 18 and 28 °C reduced the level of AA to 3367 and 2482 μg g^?1 dw in nauplii and 3068 and 2286 μg g^?1 dw in juveniles. After 24 h enrichment, 6 h of starvation at 18 and 28 °C reduced AA to 8847 and 7899 μg g^?1 dw in nauplii and to 9053 and 8199 μg g^?1 dw in juveniles. Continuation of starvation to 24 h at 18 and 28 °C further reduced AA levels in nauplii to 6977 and 4078 μg g^?1 dw and to 7583 and 5114 μg g^?1 dw in juveniles. This study demonstrated that A2P could be assimilated as AA in the body tissue of different‐sized Artemia in a dose‐dependant manner and AA was depleted during starvation depending on time and temperature.     

Acute tolerance of juvenile Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus L., to ammonia and nitrite at various salinities

The acute tolerance of juvenile Florida pompano Trachinotus carolinus L. (mean weight±SE=8.1±0.5 g) to environmental unionized ammonia‐nitrogen (NH₃‐N) and nitrite‐nitrogen (NO₂‐N) at various salinities was determined via a series of static exposure trials. Median‐lethal concentrations (LC₅₀ values) of NH₃‐N and NO₂‐N at 24, 48, and 96 h of exposure were calculated at salinities of 6.3, 12.5 and 25.0 g L^?1 at 28 °C (pH=8.23–8.36). Tolerance of pompano to acute NH₃‐N exposure was not affected by salinity, with 24, 48 and 96 h LC₅₀ values ranging from 1.05 to 1.12, 1.00 to 1.08 and 0.95 to 1.01 mg NH₃‐N L^?1 respectively. Regarding NO₂‐N, tolerance of pompano to this environmental toxicant was compromised at reduced salinities. Median‐lethal concentrations of NO₂‐N to pompano at 24, 48 and 96 h of exposure ranged from 67.4 to 220.1, 56.9 to 140.7 and 16.7 to 34.2 mg NO₂‐N L^?1 respectively. The results of this study indicate that juvenile Florida pompano are relatively sensitive to acute NH₃‐N and NO₂‐N exposure, and in the case of the latter, especially at lower salinities.     

Triploidy induction in Australian greenlip abalone Haliotis laevigata (Donovan) with cytochalasin B

Triploid induction in Australian greenlip abalone, Haliotis laevigata (Donovan), was conducted by blocking the formation of the second polar body using cytochalasin B (CB). Twenty minutes after fertilization, the zygotes of greenlip abalone were treated with four CB concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 mg L⁻¹) for 10, 15 and 20 min. The ploidy of resultant larvae was determined using flow cytometry at 72-h post fertilization. Our study showed that fertilization, hatching, survival and induced triploidy of abalone larvae were significantly affected by the CB concentration and treatment duration. The effective range of CB concentration for triploid induction on greenlip abalone was 0.5–0.75 mg L⁻¹ with an induction duration of 10–15 min. The results indicate that the most effective treatment combination for triploid induction in greenlip abalone is 0.5 mg CB L⁻¹ for 15 min starting at 20-min post fertilization.     

Acute toxicity of nitrite on white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone) juveniles in low‐salinity water

The nitrite toxicity was estimated in juveniles of L. vannamei. The 24, 48, 72 and 96 h LC₅₀ of nitrite‐N on juveniles were 8.1, 7.9, 6.8 and 5.7 mg L^?1 at 0.6 g L^?1; 14.4, 9.6 8.3 and 7.0 mg L^?1 at 1.0 g L^?1; 19.4, 15.4, 13.4 and 12.4 mg L^?1 at 2.0 g L^?1 of salinity respectively. The tolerance of juveniles to nitrite decreased at 96 h of exposure by 18.6% and 54.0%, when salinity declined from 1.0 to 0.6 g L^?1 and from 2.0 to 0.6 g L^?1 respectively. The safe concentrations at salinities of 0.6, 1.0 and 2.0 g L^?1 were 0.28, 0.35 and 0.62 mg L^?1 nitrite‐N respectively. The relationship between LC₅₀ (mg L^?1), salinity (S) (g L^?1) and exposure time (T) (h) was LC₅₀ = 8.4688 + 5.6764S – 0.0762T for salinities from 0.6 to 2.0 g L^?1 and for exposure times from 24 to 96 h; the relationship between survival (%) and nitrite‐N concentration (C) for salinity of 0.6–2.0 g L^?1, nitrite‐N concentrations of 0–40 mg L^?1 and exposure times from 0 to 96 h was as follows: survival (%) = 0.8442 + 0.1909S – 0.0038T – 0.0277C + 0.0008ST + 0.0001CT–0.0029SC, and the tentative equation for predicting the 96‐h LC₅₀ to salinities from 0.6 to 35 g L^?1 in L. vannamei juveniles (3.9–4.4 g) was 96‐h LC₅₀ = 0.2127 S² + 1.558S + 5.9868. For nitrite toxicity, it is shown that a small change in salinity of waters from 2.0 to 0.6 g L^?1 is more critical for L. vannamei than when wider differences in salinity occur in brackish and marine waters (15–35 g L^?1).     

Effects of stocking density and water conditioners on yolk‐sac larvae of two marine finfish during simulated air transport

As marine finfish aquaculture expands, there is an increasing interest in the ability to ship early life stages from breeding centres to hatcheries so that each hatchery does not have to maintain its own broodstock. Here, we conducted 24 h air‐shipping simulations with yolk‐sac larvae of California yellowtail (CYT; Seriola lalandi) and white seabass (WSB; Atractoscion nobilis) to help fill in the informational gaps for shipping marine fish larvae. We examined the effects of a pH buffer on water quality, post‐shipping larval survival and subsequent survival to first feeding at larval densities of 1000, 3000, 6000 and 9000 larvae L^?1. The pH buffer, 8.3 Trizma^®, was tested at varying concentrations of zero (NT = 0.00 g L^?1), low (LT = 0.75 g L^?1), medium (MT = 1.5 g L^?1) and high (HT = 3.0 g L^?1). Trials were conducted using replicate 2 L aquarium bags filled with 500 mL of seawater and held in a water bath at 19–20°C. Results showed an interspecific difference in survival at the highest shipping densities under these experimental conditions. Shipping densities up to 6750 CYT larvae L^?1 or 3000 WSB larvae L^?1 consistently yielded >90% survival immediately after simulated shipment and >85% survival 48 h after the simulations. Furthermore, at these densities, pH was maintained at ~8.0 when buffered at 1.5 g L^?1. The highest tested densities of 9580 CYT larvae L^?1 and 9940 WSB larvae L^?1, yielded lower survival 69–79% and 0.0–1.3% respectively after 24 h. Final pH in the high density CYT trials were unsatisfactory (below 7.0), regardless of the buffer concentration; however pH in the WSB high density trials improved with increasing buffer concentration. On the basis of the results from these air‐shipping simulations, we recommend CYT and WSB larvae be shipped in seawater with 1.5 g L^?1 Trizma^® at densities not greater than 6750 larvae L^?1 for CYT and 3000 larvae L^?1 for WSB. We believe this represents an important step in improving long distance transport protocols for these species and provides useful guidance in air transport of other economically and ecologically important marine species. Additional research is warranted to compare these simulation results with those from actual air shipments, as we did not account for factors that may vary in flight like temperature and pressure variations, and physical agitation.     

Ammonia toxicity and its effect on the growth of the South African abalone Haliotis midae Linnaeus

The current study investigated acute toxicity to ammonia of the South African abalone, Haliotis midae, from three size classes relevant to mariculture operations, and the chronic impact of sub-lethal ammonia levels on growth of juvenile abalone.Results showed that tolerance to ammonia (at pH 7.8 and T_a = 15 °C) increases with body size (i.e. age) as indicated by 36 h LC₅₀ values: juvenile abalone (1-2.5 cm shell length) had the lowest LC₅₀ of 9.8 μg l^− 1 FAN, whereas LC₅₀ was 12.9 μg l^− 1 FAN in “cocktail”-size abalone (5-8 cm shell length). The highest LC₅₀ of 16.4 μg l^− 1 FAN was observed in “brood stock”-size animals (10-15 cm). When “cocktail”-size abalone were allowed to acclimatize to sub-lethal ammonia levels for 48 h, their ammonia tolerance increased compared with non-acclimatized abalone of the same size: LC₅₀ was 2.0 μg l^− 1 FAN higher at 14.8 μg l^− 1 FAN.Growth of juvenile abalone (1-2.5 cm shell length) during chronic exposure to sub-lethal FAN levels is inhibited: specific growth rate (SGR) is significantly reduced by 58.7% to 0.10 ± 0.03% d^− 1 (weight) compared with 0.24 ± 0.06% d^− 1 of abalone of a control group (no ammonia).The results demonstrate the negative effects of ammonia not only on survival but also on growth of farmed abalone, both impair profitability of the farming operation. The information from the present study will be helpful in determining water quality requirements in South African abalone farms.     

Improved survival of rohu, Labeo rohita (Hamilton-Buchanan) and silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (Valenciennes) fingerlings using low-dose quinaldine and benzocaine during transport

The effects of fingerlings immersion in low‐dose benzocaine (15 and 30 mg L⁻¹, silver carp and rohu) and quinaldine (100 μL L⁻¹ silver crap and 250 μL L⁻¹ rohu) for 1, 3 and 6 h on stress responses and survival of rohu, Labeo rohita and silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix fingerlings were evaluated in a transport simulation experiment. Both quinaldine and benzocaine showed low mortalities (0–2%). The total mortality in control (with no anaesthesia) was 30% for rohu and 14% for silver carp. Quinaldine and benzocaine‐treated fingerlings had significantly higher plasma chloride levels than the control in both species. Benzocaine, quinaldine, as well as the control, had an initial elevation of plasma cortisol levels. Benzocaine lost its effectiveness after 3 h exposure while quinaldine persisted throughout the 6 h experimental period. Both sedatives reduced bacterial build‐up compared with the control. No post‐exposure mortality was observed for any of the transport methods assessed 48 h after the treatment. This study suggests that the use of low‐dose benzocaine or quinaldine during transport has positive effect on the survival and health of rohu and silver carp fingerlings.