Effect of salinity on the growth of juvenile longtooth grouper Epinephelus bruneus in tank culture

Abstract

Commercially viable farming of the longtooth grouper Epinephelus bruneus has been impeded by the fact that it takes at least 3 years for cultured groupers to attain a marketable size. This is due to growth stagnation at low temperatures in winter. It has been reported that the growth and condition of some marine fish is enhanced at low salinities; therefore, we evaluated the effect of low salinity on the growth of tank-reared juvenile groupers using a generalized linear model. The results demonstrated that growth increased at 17 psu during the feeding period, and body weight loss during the non-feeding period was lower at a salinity of 10 psu compared to 34 psu.