CIBA develops captive breeding, seed production technology for Mangrove Red Snapper

CHENNAI, 31 MAY 2021: In a major breakthrough that would give a fillip to the diversification of brackishwater aquaculture, the ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai has succeeded in developing captive broodstock and seed production technology of another marine fish Mangrove Red Snapper (Lutjanus argentemaculatus) for the first time in India.

CIBA has already developed the breeding and seed production technology for brackishwater food fishes like Asian seabass, milkfish, mullet, and whiskered catfish, and also ornamental species for the first time in the country.

It is a euryhaline fish, able to grow in fresh, brackish, and marine habitats. It is a carnivorous fish, primarily feeding at night on fish, crustaceans, gastropods, and cephalopod molluscs. It is an ideal candidate species for pond and cage aquaculture systems. Due to the texture, taste, and free of spines, the consumer preference for the fish is high. It fetches a good market price which is in the range of INR 400 to INR 600/kg.

The species has immense potential for brackishwater aquaculture owing to its fast growth rate, easy adaptability to culture conditions; quick acceptance of artificial feed, pleasant appearance, and good meat quality. CIBA initiated a captive broodstock development program of the fish with the wild-collected juvenile of 50 gm size in 2015 and within three to four years in captivity the fishes attained maturity.

As a result of concerted efforts, successful breeding and larval production of Mangrove Red Snapper (MRS) was achieved using captive stock in 2019, repeated the breeding consecutively in the next year, and produced fingerlings.

Adhering to COVID-19 protocols a function was organized at CIBA  to announce the development of hatchery technology for MRS and distribute the first batch of red snapper fingerlings to potential farmers.

Deputy Director General (Fisheries), ICAR, New Delhi Dr. J.K.Jena who presided over the function through online mode, described that CIBA achieved another milestone by developing the hatchery seed production technology for MRS and it is a significant step towards diversification of brackishwater aquaculture.

Director of CIBA Dr. KK Vijayan who distributed the fingerlings to farmers highlighted that this outcome is due to the concentrated efforts of the scientists’ team during the last 5 years and this species readily accept formulated feed, can grow to a marketable size of 300-500 gm, in less than 6 months, making this fish a farmers’ choice.

Principal Scientist and Head-in-Charge, Fish Culture Division Dr. M.Kailasam who lead the finfish culture team highlighted the suitability of the red snapper for aquaculture, and expressed hope that the industry would come forward to adopt the hatchery technology so that scaling up of the seed production can be achieved.