Captive Breeding and Nursery Rearing of the Indian Seahorse, Hippocampus kuda (Teleostei: Syngnathidae)

Abstract

Breeding of laboratory-reared 21 pairs of broodstock Hippocampus kuda (Bleeker 1852) and rearing of their young ones indicated that 262.00 ± 59.00 offsprings were released during each spawning. A newly born seahorse was (mean ± SE) 7.83 ± 0.11 mm in length with a weight of 1.17 ± 0.009 mg. It could attain a mean length of 31.14 ± 0.66 mm with a mean weight of 16.13 ± 0.60 mg in 30 days when fed ad libitum with Artemia nauplii. The mean survival per brood cycle was enhanced to 65.22 ± 1.87% from almost less than 1.0% by improving the rearing conditions.