Advancing captive maturation and spawning through induced breeding trials in goldlined seabream Rhabdosargus sarba (Forsskål, 1775)

Abstract

Goldlined seabream (Rhabdosargus sarba), a species with a cosmopolitan distribution, is claimed to be one of the most sought-after and commercially significant fishes which belong to the family Sparidae. This study was conducted to ascertain the significance of spawning aggregation behaviour, in conjunction with the individual spawning performance of R. sarba, by examining five different sex ratio trial combinations and their responses to different hormonal induction dosages. For the induced breeding trials, subadults of R. sarba were stocked and maintained in the cages throughout the year. Fishes were cannulated and found out the initial presence of matured oocytes (468 ± 19 µm) in December and milting males from October to January. Notably, R. sarba was able to mature and induce breed under captivity for the first time in India. Spawning occurred during December, which was administered by a single dose of 500 IU HCG. The fecundity was about 151,410 ± 168 eggs, where the fertilized eggs (889 ± 0.12 µm) with a single oil globule were obtained and the fertilization rate was 75 ± 17% after a latency period of about 36 h. The eggs were incubated and hatched after 14–16 h at a percentage of 79 ± 23%. Further, the larval rearing was carried out until fry size.