Milkfish, rabbitfish and mullet

Abstract

This paper reviews studies conducted on milkfish (Chanos chanos), rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus), and mullet (Mugil cephalus) at the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department from 1968 to 1991. Milkfish studies focused on hormonal induction of off-season gonadal maturation, dietary manipulation of milkfish broodstock to improve egg and larval quality, improvement of larval rearing techniques for mass fry production and technology transfer to the private sector, and search for a low-cost, practical diet for milkfish and a supplemental diet to increase pond production. Preliminary success on alternate feed for larval rearing and spontaneous maturation of milkfish in concrete tanks may help alleviate milkfish fry supply in the future. Studies on rabbitfish centered on improvement of larval survival and search for the optimum diet for growth of rabbitfish fry and juveniles reared in ponds. The difficulty in rearing rabbitfish larvae due to high mortality at first week after hatching hinders the development of the rabbitfish industry. Research involving mullet was solely on the establishment of broodstock for fish propagation.