Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture (2+1)

Unit 5 - Finfish culture systems

5.3. Culture of asian seabass

• The Asian sea bass Lates calcarifer is an important coastal, estuarine and freshwater fish in the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific region.
• It supports commercial and recreational fisheries in Australia, and Papua New Guinea.
• It is caught in the traditional prawn/fish filtration systems of Asia. It is widely distributed from the Gulf of Arabia to Northern Australia.
• It is highly Euryhaline with a complex life history. It is a protandrous hermaphrodite and catadromus fish.
• Spawning occurs in brackish waters of 28 to 36 ppt salinity, near river mouths. Generally spawns from January to August, spawning is triggered by a rise in temperature.
• There is a tide based monthly cycle of spawning, spawns usually around full moon and new moon days coinciding with spring tides.
• It is highly predacious and cannibalistic, which is the main difficulty in culture of this fish.
• Stringent size grading is required in the culture environments.
• The fish is fast growing and commands good price in local and international markets, hence this is one of the species cultured in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.