QUESTION:

I'm looking for the scientific names of 2 species of fish from the Philippines. One is known there as "lapu-lapu" and is a type of grouper. The other is called "yellow covina". Also, does anyone know when the spawning season is for grouper in the Philippines? Can they be bred successfully in captivity? I've heard that fingerlings caught in the wild are much stronger than those produced artificially, do you have any views on that? Also, we're looking into ways to produce our own feed in the Philippines and were wondering about the feasibility of substituting soymeal for fishmeal. Some have suggested they're having luck doing that.

Steve Costomiris
Los Angeles, CA, USA

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COMMENTS 1:

In the Philippines, the term "lapu-lapu" refers to virtually all groupers (family Serranidae). They are a very high value fish that are cultured in the islands, mostly in floating cages in estuaries. Example species are the honeycomb grouper (Epinephelus merra), the greasy grouper (Epinephelus tauvina), the marbled grouper (E. fuscoguttatus) and the humpback grouper (Cromileptes ativeles). Spawning season varies throughout the islands but seems to correspond with the onset of the dry season which is August-October in areas dominated by southwest monsoon climate patterns. Aquaculture is frequently based on collection of fingerlings in estuaries by fixed fishing gear, but there has been success in breeding at the Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Tigbauan, Iloilo, Philippines.
I've checked my references for "yellow covina" or "yellow corvina" (particularly "Fishbase 97" available on CD-ROM from the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) in Makati City, Philippines). There is no listed fish by that name. There is a "yellow corvina" listed, but it is a Sciaenid (croaker or drum) from North America.

Michael A. Rice, PhD
Associate Professor of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Department of Fisheries, Animal & Veterinary Science
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881 USA
tel. (401)874-2943 fax. (401)874-4017
e-mail. rice@uriacc.uri.edu
URL. http://www.uri.edu/crd/favs_home/mr.html

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COMMENTS 2:

Lapu-lapu is indeed a common name for grouper. Normally people mean Epinephelus tauvina. This fish is being bred but with extreme difficulty. Difficulty of obtaining enough sperm (need to use very big males or sex reversed females), larvae have very small mouth sizes (less than 70æm) and can hardly be kept on a rotifer diet, mortality is very high during larval rearing. If I remember well, I think grouper is spawning in the Philippines during the rainy season which should be in the period May-October.

Philippe Dhert
e-mail: philippe.dhert@UGent.be

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COMMENTS 3:

For what I remember "lapu-lapu" is the name of the red snapper in the Philippines, at least on the island of Palawan.

Mr. Haakon Hansen
Zoological Museum
University of Oslo
Sarsgt. 1, 0562, Oslo, Norway
Tel: 47 22 85 17 21
e-mail: haakon.hansen@toyen.uio.no

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COMMENTS 4:

We called Dr. Marti in the Philippines and she said that they're having very limited success breeding grouper in captivity. Mortality is extremely high. Barramundi, no problem.

Steve Costomiris
Los Angeles, CA
e-mail: : steve11@earthlink.net
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