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What causes cannibalization‐associated suffocation in cultured brown‐marbled grouper, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus (Forsskål, 1775)?
Author(s) -
Hseu JinnRong,
Huang WenBin,
Chu YeongTorng
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2109.2007.01762.x
Subject(s) - grouper , biology , marbled meat , epinephelus , fishery , predation , balaenoptera , cannibalism , zoology , ecology , whale , fish <actinopterygii>
During culture of grouper, cannibalism is a frequent phenomenon that usually causes economic loss. Grouper culture often requires grading to prevent size‐dependent cannibalism. In comparison with orange‐spotted ( Epinephelus coioides ) and giant grouper ( E. lanceolatus ), failure to swallow prey during cannibalism is frequently observed in brown‐marbled grouper ( E. fuscoguttatus ). The cannibal cannot engulf the entire prey and the two fish ultimately end up dying together. Herein, we attempted to compare morphometric differences among orange‐spotted, giant and brown‐marbled grouper. We established a cannibal–prey total length (TL) relationship for brown‐marbled grouper: TL prey =0.71 TL cannibal −1.75. According to the equation, a difference of approximately 50% in TL is a threshold to use for grading the grouper. This value is much larger than that used (30%) in orange‐spotted and giant grouper, and this size difference results in a higher incidence of failed cannibalism attempts in brown‐marbled grouper. It is our belief that the standard grading method will fail to produce as good an effect in brown‐marbled grouper as is seen in orange‐spotted and giant grouper. Therefore, in addition to grading, other manipulations such as satiation feeding, nutritional supplementation and optimal stocking densities should be applied to reduce cannibalism of brown‐marbled grouper.