Growth and reproduction of tropical seahorse Hippocampus kuda in captivity

Abstract

An attempt was made to maintain a brood stock of seahorse, spawn them under controlled conditions and rear the young ones to maturity. The spawning yielded about 300 baby seahorses with a mean length of 9.0mm. The young ones reared under controlled condition using copepods and rotifers as feed showed steady increase in the body length and weight. Over a period of 176 days they had grown to a size of 78.0 mm in length and 1.6 g in weight. The size at first maturity of male was estimated as 65mm. The number of babies released at first spawning was found to be 60-70. Development of pouch and their size does not seem to have any relevance to the possible mating and impregnation in the males but is dependent only on the subsequent pairing of seahorse. A description of the developing embryo obtained from 70mm sized seahorse is detailed.