Growth of size-graded post-larvae of Metapenaeus monoceros

ABSTRACTMSc THESISGROWTH OF SIZE-GRADED POST-LARVAE OF Metapenaeus monocerosAsuman KUMLUDEPARTMENT OF FISHERIESINSTITUTE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCESUNIVERSITY OF ÇUKUROVASupervisor : Prof.Dr. Nazmi TEKELİOĞLUYear : 2005, Page : 25: Prof.Dr. Nazmi TEKELİOĞLUJurry: Assist.Prof.Dr. Mahmut YANAR: Assist.Prof.Dr. Mevlüt AKTAŞIn this study, growth performance of three size-graded (small size: 4.90±1.35 mm,medium size: 7.34±2.56 mm, and large size: 10.45±3.47 mm) post-larva of Metapenaeusmonoceros was investigated in a growing period of 40 days. The experiment was carried outin plastic containers (35x20x15 cm). Randomly selected 30 post-larvae were stocked intoeach container. Throughout the study, water temperature and salinity were maintained at28ºC and 40 ppt. All the size groups showed linear growth and maintained similar growthrate (0.45 mm/day) during the experiment (P>0.05). Final total length of small and mediumsize post-larvae reached to 23-25 mm (P>0.05), but was 29 mm in large size animals(P<0.05). Highest mortality (47%) occurred in the small size group (P<0.05), while mediumand large size groups survived by 72-80% (P>0.05). Small shrimps observed to reach to only0.13 g (P<0.05), whereas medium and large size shrimps attained 0.17 and 0.23 g,respectively (P>0.05). A biomass of about 2-fold from medium and 2.5-fold from largeshrimps was obtained than that of the small shrimps. In conclusion, this study hasdemonstrated that, size-grading does not appear to be advantageous in terms of growthperformance in this shrimp species.Keywords: Metapenaeus monoceros, Size-grading, Growth, SurvivalI