Captive breeding and seed production of lyretail anthias Pseudanthias squamipinnis (Peters, 1885) in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS)

Anil, M K and Gomathi, P and Ambarish, Gop P and Surya, S and Santhosh, B and Siju, R and Raju, B and Gopalakrishnan, A (2026) Captive breeding and seed production of lyretail anthias Pseudanthias squamipinnis (Peters, 1885) in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Indian Journal of Fisheries, 73 (2). pp. 69-78. ISSN 0970-6011

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Abstract

Lyretail anthias, Pseudanthias squamipinnis (Peters, 1885), belongs to the subfamily Anthiinae (Family:Serranidae), is a highly priced (US$ 30) coral reef fish distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region. The present study investigates and describes the captive maturation, volitional spawning, larval rearing, and seed production of the P. squamipinnis, for the first time globally. Broodstock maintained in 2 t recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) spawned naturally without any hormonal induction. Fertilised eggs were planktonic, spherical, non-adhesive, transparent, and measured between 596 to 615 µm in size and had a single oil globule (152.14±4.24 µm). A green water medium consisting of a combination of microalgae was used for larval rearing. Eggs were maintained at 35 ppt salinity and 28±1°C temperature, which hatched out within 15-16 h after spawning. Newly hatched larvae were planktonic and measured 1.43±0.09 mm in total length (TL). The yolk sac was completely absorbed by 3 days post-hatch (dph). The preflexion stage was observed till 14 dph, and flexion began by 15 dph, which was completed by 20 dph. Between 30-40 dph, the larvae metamorphosed into juveniles with adult orange-yellow colour. Larvae were reared using copepod nauplii (Parvocalanus crassirostris) as the first feed, and in later stages, they were fed with copepods, Artemia and micro-encapsulated feed. The present study provides an improved RAS-based broodstock development protocol that enables the simultaneous rearing of several pairs of the same species or different species. It also provides an improved larval rearing and feeding schedule, resulting in improved survival rates compared with previously reported works.

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