Morphological Development of Hatchery-Reared Larval and Juvenile Mekong Giant Catfish Pangasianodon gigas

Main Article Content

Yushiro Kinoshita
Viseth Hav
Fumihito Akishinonomiya
Yasuhiko Taki
Hiroshi Kohno

Abstract

Morphological development of Pangasianodon gigas was described for hatchery-reared 111 larvae and juveniles of 3.41–65.5 mm in body length (BL) sampled from day 0 to day 35. BLs of larvae and juveniles on day 0 were 3.87±0.30 (mean±SD) mm, reaching 22.1±0.53 mm on day 14 and 58.8±5.58 mm on day 35. Notochord tip flexion began in the smallest larva of 3.41 mm BL, and the completely flexed notochord tip was evident in specimens of about 9.00 mm BL. Melanophores were scarcely developed in the yolk sac larvae smaller than 7.13 mm BL and started appearing on many body parts in the flexion larvae 6.93-9.00 mm BL The juvenile stage started at 20.9 mm BL, at which point some of the body propotions relative to BL were in the process of developmental change, while others had reached peak or constant values. The results were compared with those of such confamilial species as Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, Pangasius bocourti and Pangasius larnaudii.

Article Details

Section
Articles