ENHANCING THE RESISTANCE TO PHYSICAL STRESS IN LARVAE OF MUGIL-CEPHALUS BY THE FEEDING OF ENRICHED ARTEMIA NAUPLII

Striped mullet, Mugil cephalus, larvae were first reared exclusively on rotifers until 15 days post-hatching. Larvae were then separated and reared until 35 days post-hatching using four different rearing strategies: Treatment 1 = newly hatched Artemia nauplii, Treatment 2 = rotifers plus nauplii, Treatment 3 = enriched nauplii, and Treatment 4 = rotifers plus enriched nauplii. No obvious differences in larval growth and survival were observed between treatments. However, significant differences in the ability to tolerate physical handling were observed. Highest mortalities occurred with larvae reared using Treatment 1. Intermediate percentages of mortality were observed from larvae grown using Treatment 2 and almost no mortalities were observed when employing enriched nauplii (i.e., Treatments 3 and 4).