Culture of Lobotes surinamensis (Tripletail)

Abstract

The Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, is a pelagic fish found in tropical and sub-tropical waters of all oceans. Tripletails are often associated with floating debris and make frequent incursions in bays and estuaries where they are targeted by recreational fishermen. In Mississippi waters the species is typically present during the late spring and summer season that also correspond to the period of sexual maturation and spawning (Brown-Peterson and Franks 2001). Tripletail is appreciated as a gamefish but is also prized for its flesh of superior quality. The fast growth rate of juveniles in captivity documented by Franks et al. (2001) and the excellent quality of Tripletail flesh both contribute to the potential of this species for marine aquaculture. In addition, the production of cultured juveniles would be precious to develop a better understanding of the biology, early life history and habitat use of Tripletail larvae and juveniles, a topic largely undocumented to date, through experimental releases and controlled studies. The culture of tripletail thus supports the Tidelands Trust Fund Program through improved conservation of natural resources, potential enhancement of fisheries productivity and potential development of a new economic activity on the Gulf coast producing tripletail via aquaculture. The Objective of this project was to initiate development of methods and techniques needed to spawn captive held tripletail broodfish and raise their offspring to evaluate their growth and development in captivity. In this report we will present the results of studies aiming to develop methods and protocols for captive spawning of tripletail and the first data obtained on the early development of tripletail larvae. A major issue that was encountered with tripletail broodstock development during the project lied in the difficulties associated with identifying the sex of adults caught in the wild and candidates for being incorporated in mating sets for spawning. This issue was addressed during the course of the project by examining the potential of a non-lethal method of hormonal sexing. The results of these preliminary investigations are presented in the third part of this report. All protocols used in the project were determined with the guidance of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM IACUC protocol number 10100108).