The Scale‐up of Spotted Rose Snapper, Lutjanus guttatus, Larval Rearing at Mazatlan, Mexico

The scale‐up of spotted rose snapper, Lutjanus guttatus , larval rearing is described. Fertilized eggs (480,000) were obtained from a 1‐d harvest of a natural spawning captive broodstock acclimatized for 1 yr and 6 mo in two fiberglass tanks (18 m 3 ). Fourteen hours after spawning, 89.6% of the collected eggs were floating, of which 96.2% were transparent with live embryos. Incubation at 25–26 C lasted 21 h, with 90.2 ± 2.1% hatching percentage of normal larvae. The percentage of viable larvae at 48 h after hatching was 79.7 ± 1.9%. Initial stocking density was 10.4 ± 1.0 larvae/L 2 days after hatching (d.p.h.). A total of 22,600 juveniles (1256 ± 170 juveniles/m 3 ) were harvested from six 3‐m 3 cylindrical fiberglass tanks. Average survival was 12.1 ± 1.1%. Final mean length and weight were 5.5 ± 0.05 cm and 2.24 ± 0.04 g, respectively. Growth expressed in total length was TL = 2.1476e 0.0543t ( R 2 = 0.9911). Final mean biomass and condition factor were 2.8 kg/m 3 , 12.3% and 1.346. General length‐weight ratio was W = 0.05460 LT 2.2306 .