| Aquaculture Basic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thus both wild collection and bed varieties as well could be exported from
the country. India has got about 18 millions acres of freshwater area suitable
for aquaculture. A number of species of fish and other aquatic organisms
capable of giving an economical yield are also available locally. In India
the yield from farmer’s pond from the composite fish culture of major carps
is on an average three tonnes per hectare per year and in experimental ponds
of research centres is said to be 10 tonnes per hectare per year. From Catfish
culture an yield of about 107 tonnes per hectare.
Farming in brackish water A : FIN FISHES
1.
Common Name
Barramundi
Technical Name
Lates calcarifer
Adult (Field Characters)
A Large perch, body torpedo shaped, head depressed
above orbit. Mouth subterminal, colour olive greenish brown. Belly
and flanks slivery.
2.
Common Name
Milk fish
Technical Name
Chanos chanos
Adult (Field Characters)
Body stream lined. Caudal fin perfectly bifurcate,
long and grayish in colour. Body slivery white.
3.
Common Name
Flathead mullet
Technical Name
Mugil cephalus
Adult (Field Characters)
Body robust, head broad and much flattened dorsally.
Back olive green in colour, slivery on flanks. Dark purple patch
at base of pectoral fin.
4.
Common Name
Large scale mullet
Technical Name
Liza macrolepis
Adult (Field Characters)
Robust body, head wide and flattened above. Colour
greenish grey dorsally, slivery on flanks and belly. Fins have dusky
margins.
5.
Common Name
Goldspot mullet
Technical Name
Liza Parsia
Adult (Field Characters)
Body and head narrow. A Golden spot on the operculum.
6.
Common Name
Tade mullet
Technical Name
Liza tade
Adult (Field Characters)
Body elongate, head wide and caudal fin forked.
Colour greenish brown above and slivery along flanks. About 5-7
vertical marks on the upper half of body.
7.
Common Name
Longarm mullet
Technical Name
Valamugil cunnesius
Adult (Field Characters)
Body robust, head wide and flattened. Colour dark
tan to grey on back, silvery belly. A dark spot at the base of pectoral
fin.
8.
Common Name
Banded pearl spot
Technical Name
Etrolus suratensis
Adult (Field Characters)
Body dorso-ventrally deep. Greenish black fish
with conspicuous vertical bands beginning from operculum to base
of tall. White pearly spots present on the flanks above lateral
line. Pectoral fins creamy yellow and have black biotech at the
base.
9.
Common Name
Four finger thread fin
Technical Name
Eleutheronema tetradactylum
Adult (Field Characters)
Torpedo shaped body with four filaments projecting
from the base of pectorals. Caudal fin forked equally. Colour silvery
green above yellowish white on flanks and belly.
10.
Common Name
Paradise threadfin
Technical Name
Polynemus paradiseus
Adult (Field Characters)
Body torpedo shaped. Seven filamentous projections
arise out of the base of pectoral fins.
11.
Common Name
Ox-eye tarpon
Technical Name
Megalops cyprinoides
Adult (Field Characters)
A long Filament arises from the posterior base
of the dorsal fin. Body silvery on the flanks and back dark bluish
green.
12.
Common Name
Silver sillago
Technical Name
Sillago sihama
Adult (Field Characters)
Body elongate, cylindrical and smooth. Colour brown
above, silvery on the flanks and caudal fin dusky.
B. PRAWNS
1.
Common Name
Vembanad lake Prawn
Technical Name
Macrobrachium idella
Adult (Field Characters)
Medium sized, pate greenish prawns, attains a length
of 200 mm.
2.
Common Name
White prawn
Adult (Field Characters)
Colouration of body creamy yellowish; minute spots
of red, yellow and black are uniformly distributed all over the
body. Anterior half of antennal flagella is red white the posterior
half is yellow.
3.
Common Name
Tiger prawn
Technical Name
Penaeus monodon
Adult (Field Characters)
Maroon brown coloured body with white and dark
red coloured vertical bands.
4.
Common Name
Banana Prawn
Technical Name
Penaeus merguiensis
Adult (Field Characters)
Body colour creamy yellowish with greenish or brown
spots spread all over the body. Antennal flagella reddish brown.
C. CRAB
1.
Common Name
Mud Crab.
Technical Name
Scylla serrata
Adult (Field Characters)
A crab of greenish-grey coloured body.
Farming the sea is the ultimate aim of Blue Revolution in India. Sea a vast
body of water, is being used as a dumping ground of waste. 1.
Common Name
Black spot snapper
Technical Name
Lutjanus fulviflamma
Adult (Field Characters)
A small (30 cms) robust snapper. Colour yellow
or greenish yellow above, silvery pink below. A black biotech on
the lateral line at the 2/3 portion from the head.
2
Common Name
Malabar blood Snapper
Technical Name
Lutjanus malabaricus
Adult (Field Characters)
Body deep, head profile concave above orbit, colour
deep red in adults.
3.
Common Name
Emperor red snapper
Technical Name
Lutjanus sebae
Adult (Field Characters)
A deep bodied snapper of ellipsoid contour. Body
deep red in colour.
4.
Common Name
River snapper
Technical Name
Lutjanus argentimaculatus
Adult(Field Characters)
A red-brown stout bodied fish. Belly some what
paler.
5.
Common Name
Malabar grouper/reef cod
Technical Name
Epinephelus malabaricus
Adult (Field Characters)
A large serranid with a serrated pre-operacle;
colour of head and body pale grayish brown with dark brown or orange
spots. Three dark biotches on interopercle. Pectoral and caudal
fins brownish black with small dark spots.
All the six species of lobsters described below are species that occur close
to the shore, that is either in the rocky intertidal region or at the 20
m line of both coasts or peninsular India.. Initially these should be reared
in artificial tanks until these reach 10 to 15 cms and should be transferred
to the sea. 1.
Common Name
Scalloped spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panulirus homarus
Adult(Field Characters)
Body length 31 cms; tail 19 cms; colour : Body,
dark green or reddish brown, with finely spotted in white. Antennulae
banded, legs uniform in colour.
2.
Common Name
Longlegged spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panulirus longipes
Adult(Field Characters)
Attains 30 cms, tall 20 cms. Colour : body and
abdomen covered with numerous distinct round spots. Legs with light
longitudinal streaks. Antennulae with dark longitudinal streaks.
3.
Common Name
Ornate spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panulirus ornatus
Adult(Field Characters)
Attains 35 cms and occasionally 30 cms. Colour
: Abdomen brownish or greenish grey with minute indistinct speckles.
Carapace with very characteristic marbling of pale lines near the
base of the frontal horns. Legs not streaked. Antennulae ringed.
4.
Common Name
Pronghorn spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panulirus penicillatus
Adult(Field Characters)
Attains 30 to 40 cms. Males usually longer. Colour
: body variously coloured, speckled on carapace and abdomen with
tiny white spots. Antennulae not banded. Legs with longitudinal
yellow lines.
5.
Common Name
Mud spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panullirus polyphagus
Adult(Field Characters)
Attains about 25 to 30 cms. Colour : body grayish
green without spots. Leg irregularly spotted.
6.
Common Name
Pained spiny lobster
Technical Name
Panulirus versicolor
Adult(Field Characters)
Attains 30 to 40 cms. Colour Carapace whitish with
well defined sharply delimited areas of bluish black. Antennal peduncles
pink, the flagella white.
The purpose of freshwater fish culture is to obtain fish production in the
most economical way.
Indian and exotic carps with attractive farming characters are available
in India. They are Rohu, Catla, Common carp, Silver Carp, Bighead carp and
Mrigal.
Rohu is considered to be the tastiest of all Indian carps. It has got a
very good market demand. Cylindrical body shape reddish tinch of the body,
comparatively small head with fringed lower lips are the prominent external
characters of this fish.
Catla is the most rapid growing Indian major carp. It attains 1 to 2 kg.
During first year and maximum reported growth is 45 kg.
Silver carp is a native of China. The upturned mouth, laterally compressed
body and small silvery scales are the distinguishing features of the species.
But the fast growth makes it an attractive species for farming.
In appearance it resembles the silver carp. Big head carp feeds on zooplankton
and phytoplankton. Even though it is a fast growing and tasty fish the availability
of seed in India is scarce.
Cylindrical shape, non-fringed lips, small head and bright silvery body
are the prominent external characters of this species. It grows to around
1 kg. in the first year. Mrigal feeds mainly on decaying vegetable matters
at the pond bottom. It takes artificial feed quickly compared to other carps.
The market demand for this species is large.
Like the common carp Tilapia is cultured throughout the world. Tilapia is
a native of Africa. It is characterised by an anterior spinous dorsal fin
and a posterior soft dorsal fin. Tilapia is an omnivorous scavenger.
Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
Clarias (Clarias batrachus)
This species is seen throughout India. It can be grown both in freshwater
and estuarine water. The oval shaped and laterally compressed body and the
spines over the dorsal fin and the pearl like whitish dots all over the
body are the distinguishing features of this fish. Even though the growth
rate is poor, the high market demand makes the species attractive for farming.
Apart from the pond fish culture other fish culture system, are running
water fish culture, cage and pen culture and reservoir fish culture.
In the system instead of recycling replacement is done. So no bio-filter
and settling tank is required.
In larger water bodies where pond can not be constructed pen culture
or cage culture is done, pen culture is done in shallow water and cage culture
is done in deeper water. Species that can grow in crowded conditions with
artificial feed is used here. Cage and pen are subjected to natural calamities
like wind, cyclone etc. In India cage or pen culture has not yet developed
in a commercial way.
MURRELS
The snakeheads or murrels belonging to the family Chanildae (Ophiocephalldae)
are highly regarded foodfishes in the south and south-east Asian countries.
They contribute an Important freshwater fishery in several parts of India
and are in great demand because of their pleasant-tasting flesh and presence
of fewer bones.
Tilapia
Tilapia production has been progressively increasing throughout the
world during the past ten years. World production of Tilapia increased two
folds from 2,85,566 tonnes in 1975 to 5,40,851 tones in 1984. In Asia, the
increase was from 38,487 tonnes (1975) to 1,86,016 tonnes (1984) registering
an increase of about 5 times. In Philippines, it increased form 6,122 tonnes
(1979) to 53,203 tonnes (1984) registering an increase of about 9 times
in six years.
Tilapia can be cultured in Cage/Pen/ponds in fresh/backwater areas such
as lake, rivers, backwater areas and reservoirs.The average marketable size
of the fish is 150 gm to 300 gm.
Catfish
Catfishes are a group of bony fishes characterized by the presence of
barbells around their mouth, resembling the sensitive whiskers of cats in
appearance and function. All the catfishes have at least one pair or barbells
on the upper jaw and in many the barbells are also present on the chin.
The number and size of the barbells may vary from species to species. There
are about 2,500 species of catfishes belonging to about 30 families.
> Over US$ 500 million worth of Ornamental Fish are imported into
USA every year which is the largest market, followed by Europe and Japan.
It has been estimated that 8% of the estimated 86 million houses in USA
keep fish in their homes, 14% of the estimated 21 million houses in Britain
adopted fish keeping as the hobby, 4% of Belgian and Italian houses, 5%
of German houses keep fish brackish water fishes.The fact that aquarium
fishes are of immense commercial importance.
The points that are to be considered for suitability of a fish for introduction
as pet are :
A common Indian fish, fancied for their attractive colouration. India
can be called the land of Barbs as many of the popular aquarium barbs come
from here. They have large, silvery mirror like scales which fish in the
light. They are peaceful and good community fish.
These fishes have a sharp curved spine below the eye, which can
reflect a nasty cut, when is erected while the fish is alarmed
They are equipped with sensitive whisker like barbells around the mouth.
These are scale-less fishes and often growing to a large size. India is
rich in many families of cat fishes, having potential aquarium fish in the
overseas market.
Half Beaks
Hemiramphus Xanthopterus : They are red half beaks with a brilliant
lateral band two thrids as wide as a scale in its widest part. The tip of
the beak is coral red and hence the name red half beak. Found in Kerala.
Macropodus cupanus : Commonly known as Indian paradise fish. This do
not have the flashy colouration as that of Chinese paradise fish, being
earthy brown with two parallel dark horizontal stripes. The males with red
pelvic fins and red tipped anal fins. It is also known as spike tailed paradise
fish. This is found in Kerala.
Noble Fish
Gourami :
These are calm fishes with attractive colouration varying from dull
greenish to scarlet light blue with dark bands. Murrels 1.
Chanda baculis
Shoulder spot absent; A golden spot on occipit
found in the riverine systems of Orissa, W. Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar upto Punjab.
2.
C. nama
Indistinct laterline, a dark blotch on dorsal fins
upper edge generally present. Common in West Bengal.
3.
C. ranga
A dark shoulder spot present. Common Assam and
other North Eastern river.
4.
C. thomassi
Interopercle is not serrated. Found in Kerala.
Spiny eels
Flying barb
The peculiarity of this fish is its long pectoral fins and its propensity
to jump out of water. While breeding the male strikes the sides of the
female and she in turn bulls him. The eggs are only partially adhesive.
Distributed throughout the country. Another species with plain sides without
bands are also recorded in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Danios : Danio devario : Body greenish above, silvery white below.
The anterior part of the body is reticulated in its centre by steel blue
lines, divided from one another by narrow vertical yellow bands. Three
blue lines divided by yellow ones, are continued backwards to the caudal
fin, where the lower to amalgamate and passing upwards become lost on
the superior half of the fin. Found in Northern and North Eastern river
systems.
Chilwas
Chela dadyburjori : Silvery with black lateral band along the body
on which, strung like beads are found to free black spots. Goa, Cochin
(Kerala) and Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu).
Chela laubuca : Body long compressed, Abdomen keeled from below pelvic
origiri to arms, lateral line curved downwards. Found in Andhra Pradesh,
Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Assam river systems.
Killi fishes
Aplocheilus lineatus : Greenish with a gloss of purple on the cheek
and along the abdominal surface. A golden green spot in the centre of
each scale eight to ten vertical black bands pass down the sides to the
abdomen. Coorg and Wynaad down the Malabar Coast. Commonly known as Killi
fishes.
Calbasu
Labeo calbasu Body blackish. In clear streams many of the scales have
a scarlet centre. Found in rivers of Punjab, Kutch, Deccan, Southern India
and Malabar from Krishna through Orissa and W. Bengal. The Indian ocean accounts for an average of about 3.6 lakh tonnes
(17%) annually, of which nearly 65% comes from the Eastern region. While
the fishery of this region showed an upward trend during the past few years
mainly due to increased landings in Indonesia, Bangladesh and East coast
of India, the fishery of Western Indian Ocean remained more or less steady
at about 2.3 lakh tonnes. Development of deep-sea shrimping and aquaculture
of shrimp has been given considerable stress as alternate means of augmenting
production through out the world.
At present, over 50 countries undertakes shrimp farming on commercial scale
and produced an estimated quantity of 6.3 lakh tonnes of shrimp in 1990,
73 lakh in 1991 and 7.2 lakh in 1992. Farm raised shrimp accounted for 2.1%
of the total prawn landings of the world in 1981 which by 1989 rose to 26%
and in 1991-92 period to 28%. China, Indonesia, Thailand, Ecuador are the
leading countries in shrimp production through aquaculture. China produced
the maximum quantity till 1991 when an estimated amount of 1.45 lakh tonnes
was realised. Thailand, which occupied the third rank in 1991 with 1.10
lakh tonnes of cultured shrimp, came up as the leading country in 1992 with
an estimated shrimp production of 1.5 lakh tonnes relegating China to the
second place.
State-wise details of total brackish-water areas, area under
culture and production State
Estimated Brackish water area (ha)
Area under Culture (as on March 1992)
Estimated Production (April 91- March 92)
Percentage of Production
West Bengal
4,05,000
33,918
13,800
34.50
Orissa
31,600
7,417
3,800
9.50
Andhra Pradesh
1,50,000
8,100
9,700
24.25
Tamil Nadu
56,000
480
700
1.75
Kerala
65,000
13,145
9,500
23.75
Pondicherry
800
Neg.
Neg.
-
Karnataka
8,000
2,542
1,100
2.75
Goa
18,500
525
300
0.75
Maharashtra
80,000
1,869
930
2.32
Gujarat
3,76,000
231
170
0.43
Total
11,90,900
68,232
40,000
100.00
Out of the average shrimp production of 1.95 lakh tonnes about 40% is
accounted by the traditional sector and the rest 60% by trawlers.
Lobster resources of India
The lobster resources of India include a few species
of coastal and deep-sea forms which occupy different ecological conditions
on the continental shelf and upper continental slope. Qualitatively these
animals are of two major categories – the spiny lobsters or rock lobsters
belonging to Family Palinuridae and the sand lobsters or Squat lobsters
belonging to Family Scyllaridae.The annual lobster landings during the
past ten years (1982-91) ranged between 1300 and 4090t. About 70 to 80%
of this catch was contributed by Gujarat and Maharashtra alone, and the
rest mainly by Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The lobster fishery showed a declining
trend after reaching its peak in 1985.Two species of deep-sea spiny lobsters,
namely, puerulus sewelli and linuparus somniosus are newly recognised
resources at 200-400 m depth. These are commercially exploited by large
trawlers from the southwest coast, Gulf of Mannar and Andaman waters.
Culture of spiny lobsters
Shortage of seed is one of the major problems facing spiny lobster culture
throughout the word is. At present the culturists entirely depend on the
natural seed resource which is too inadequate to satisfy the fast developing
lobster culture industry. Though it has been possible to successfully
complete the larval development of some of the species in laboratory condition by countries like Japan, a break-through has not been achieved so far for the production of puerile in captivity. Lobster culture with puerulir as seed is considered to be risk-prone and less profitable. Apart from the difficulty in collection of large numbers of puerulir from the nature, the low survival in early stages, inadequate information on their food requirements and relatively longer period to grow them to commercial size are other problems in farming them.
Among the edible marine crustaceans of India, crabs rank third by virtue
of their importance as an esteemed gourmet and the value of fishery they
support, while the first and second place are occupied by shrimps and lobsters
respectively. The crabs belonging to the families Portunidae (9 species),
Calappidae (2 species), Ocypodidae (3 species), Grapsidae (1 species) and
Xanthidae (1 species) are the edible crabs of India. These crabs are exploited
mostly as a by-catch by both indigenous and mechanised crafts and gears
in the inshore waters.
Out of 16 species of crab exploited, two larger crabs belonging to the family
Portunidae are Scylla tranquebarica and Scylla serrata. They are known as
"mud crab", "green crabs" or "mangrove crabsAmong
the marine edible crabs, the mud crabs are known to migrate deeper into
the brackishwater areas, where they are fished extensively. Because of their
delicacy and larger size, the mud crabs are always in greater demand and
fetch a higher price. The total quantity exported increased from less than
one tonne during the sixties to 107 tonnes during the seventies and further
to 2063 tonnes during the eighties. However, the commencement of the export
of live mud crabs from India during the middle of eighties has brought to
light the mud crab as one of the new seafood products sought after by the
export industry and the heavy exploitation of mud crabs followed. So far,
a total of 2312 tonnes of live mud crabs have been exported during 1987-1992
and the value of foreign exchange earned was Rs. 56.37 millions. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
