Captive Reproductive Behavior, Spawning, and Early Development of White-Barred Goby Amblygobius phalaena (Valenciennes, 1837) and Examined Larval Survival and Viability at Different Water Temperatures and Salinities

Abstract

White-barred goby Amblygobius phalaena is a highly valued marine ornamental fish, but its captive reproduction and early life history are poorly understood. In this study, the captive reproductive behavior, early development, and optimal temperature and salinity for the larval survival and viability of A. phalaena were investigated for the first time. Spawning occurred between 11:00 and 13:00, with the breeding pairs naturally spawning 24 times from 1 June 2021 to 30 June 2022. The fecundity ranged from 11,022 to 95,858 eggs per spawning event. Hatching occurred approximately 81 h and 26 min after fertilization at a temperature of 27.0 ± 0.9 °C. Newly hatched larvae had a total length (TL) of 1.91–2.03 mm with 24–26 somites. The larvae transformed into juveniles at 30 days post-hatch. Experiments were conducted at different temperatures (21, 24, 27, 30, and 33 °C) and salinities (18, 24, 30, and 36 ppt) to determine the optimal conditions for larval survival and viability. The results indicate that the most suitable conditions in terms of temperature were in the range of 21–27 °C and 30 ppt for salinity. These findings provide valuable insights for the future development of captive-breeding techniques and the commercial production of other marine ornamental gobies.

First feeding of a marine ornamental fish, the White‐barred Goby Amblygobius phalaena: Investigating the optimal initial live feed organisms and optimal feeding density

“…Experiment 1 revealed that rotifers B. rotundiformis and copepod A. royi nauplii were not suitable as initial live prey for White-barred Goby larvae, suggesting that the larval White-barred Goby in the previous study (Chiu et al 2023) relied on ciliates Euplotes sp. to pass through the first feeding stage.…”

“…In this study, four types of live feed organisms were used: ciliates Euplotes sp., trochophores of the Portuguese oyster Crassostrea angulata, rotifers B. rotundiformis, and copepod A. royi nauplii (Table 2). All four live feed organisms were smaller than the mouth gape height of White-barred Goby during first feeding, which ranges from 238.45 to 298.21 μm (Chiu et al 2023).…”

“…Its ecology and reproductive biology have been well documented (Takegaki 2000(Takegaki , 2005Whiteman and Côté 2004;Hernaman and Munday 2005). In our previous study (Chiu et al 2023), successful larval rearing of White-barred Goby was carried out using a combination of three live feed organisms: the ciliate Euplotes sp., the rotifer Brachionus rotundiformis, and nauplii of the copepod Apocyclops royi. This feeding regime facilitated the transition of larval White-barred Goby through the critical first feeding stage.…”

“…All White-barred Goby larvae used in the present study were obtained from fertilized eggs laid by three pairs of broodstock. After spawning, the fertilized eggs were removed and placed into a circular-bottom incubator (15 cm in diameter × 33 cm in height; total volume = 2 L; Chiu et al 2023), where the larvae hatched. Three experiments were conducted.…”

The first successful land-based larviculture of narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) and the assessment of optimal water conditions for larval survival using response surface methodology

“…To effectively establish aquaculture practices for a speci c species, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of various aspects. This includes knowledge about the species' captive spawning (Mylonas et al 2010), optimal water quality conditions for the survival of fertilized eggs and larvae (Chiu and Leu 2021; Leu et al 2022;Chiu et al 2023), as well as the appropriate live feed organisms (Conceição et al 2010;Pan et al 2022). Within the Scomberomorus genus, the Japanese Spanish mackerel (S. niphonius) has relatively comprehensive information available for arti cial cultivation (Fukunaga et al 1982;Tanaka 2001, 2005;Sugino et al 2005).…”