Larviculture of marine fish: problems and perspectives

Availability of fingerlings has been one of the most critical factors for c ommercial success in marine fish farms. Nowadays, the life cycle of some sp ecies (e.g., sea bream, sea bass, turbot) is under control due to important improvements in zootechnics, nutritional quality of the prey and hygienic conditions of the rearing system. Survival, growth rates and quality of the fingerlings have improved considerably during the last few years. Neverthe less, new efforts are necessary to decrease the cost per juvenile produced. Efforts should be directed towards the optimisation of the rearing procedu re and the variability and predictability of the results. This paper provid es a general overview to some important aspects of the production technique s and problems in marine larviculture. Rearing techniques, including the be nefits of 'green water', how water and light and the respective advantages of the size, nutritional composition and enrichment of live feeds are consi dered together with aspects of the microbiological composition of the larva l environment and pathology development and quality of the larvae. Suggesti ons are made as to how the production of marine fish larvae maybe improved and optimised. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.