Growth rate of Hippocampus kuda under intensive culture

The larval seahorses, Hippocampus kuda Bleeker, body length (L) 30.1～50.0 mm and body weight (W) 0.51～2.50 g, were cultured from May 1994 to April 1995 under intensive conditions. During the first month of the test, the seahorses were fed zooplankton and in the following months (M) were fed mysis completely. The results showed that the monthly body weight growth rate averaged 15.87% and the specific body weight growth rate averaged 27.70%; the individual body weight increased 13.8 times; the monthly body length growth rate averaged 12.20% and the specific body length growth rate averaged 15.92%. The growth peaks of both body length and body weight emerged between May and November. The body length growth of seahorse may increase in logistic curve expressed as: L=192.346 0/(1+e 2.496 4-0.605 1M ). There also existed some relationships between the growth rates of body length and body weight and among the growth rate, food ingestion and environmental factors. Under given environmental conditions, the mean food conversion efficiency of H.kuda was 1.18 and the food conversion rate was 0.85. The relationship formula between body weight and body length was W=3.169 9×10 -3 L 1.676 7 . The suitable water temperature for H.kuda ranges from 16 to 30℃, and the optimum range is 24～28℃.