Mote Marine Laboratory Sarasota, Florida, USA
Kevan Main, Matthew Resley, Nicole Rhody, Michael Nystrom, Tom Stevens, Charles Adams
Overview of Pompano Research at Mote
Early efforts (2002-2003): spawning wild caught fish during the natural spawning season, preliminary larval rearing trials, evaluating growth and survival of fingerlings at low and high salinities Intermediate efforts (2004-2006): maturing and spawning wild and F1 pompano in captivity, evaluating effect of broodstock diet on egg quality, analyzing larval production costs Current efforts (2008-present): establishing & conditioning new broodstock, improving spawning success, improving egg quality, and verifying cost analysis
2002: Collected wild broodstock during the natural spawning period, placed in photo-thermal controlled tanks, implanted with HCG or Ovaplant, and successfully spawned fish during the natural spawning season
Newly Hatched Larva
2003: Larval rearing trials with the eggs spawned in captivity resulted in the production of 78,900 larvae at 3 DAH and 4,780 45-day-old juvenile pompano
Pompano Larval Growth (2-45DAH)
70
9-day old Larva
LengthTL(mm)
60 50 40 30 20
DAH vs Mean
10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50
Age (DAH)
2003: Fingerling trials were conducted to look at the feasibility of rearing Florida pompano in low salinity recirculating systems 1st Salinity Trial compared growth of wild-caught juveniles (290 g) to market-size (430 g) pompano at 10 ppt and 32 ppt. Fed at 2-3% body wt/day. 2nd Salinity Trial compared growth of small (8 g) to medium (30 g) fingerling pompano at 5 g/L and 32 g/L. Fed at 5% body wt/day. Monitored growth and survival monthly
Mean growth comparison in low No significant difference in growth or mortality in low and high salinity (10 ppt) and high (32 ppt) salinity conditions treatments
No indications of health