Research Projects

Live feeds are crucial for marine aquaculture, particularly copepods, which are natural food items for marine finfish larvae. The size spectrum and nutritive value of marine and estuarine copepods provide an optimal diet for hatchery rearing finfish larvae. The project proposes a new approach incorporating domestication of selected species, assessing their food preferences, reproductive potential, fecundity, and ideal sex ratio for inoculum. Intra-species selective breeding and feeding regimes protocols will be developed for individual copepod species. Provision of essential fatty acids and amino acids is essential for optimal growth and survival of fish larvae. The biochemical profile, amino acid, and fatty acid profiles of different copepod species will be determined to identify their suitability for individual marine fish species. Feed experiments on commercially available marine fish larvae will be conducted with different copepod feeds to ensure better growth performance and upscale hatchery seed production. The project aims to reduce the economic bottleneck in larviculture by producing cost-effective indigenous and natural live feed for promoting commercial scale marine finfish culture.