REVIEW
PAPER: ADVANCES IN THE LARVAL REARING OF SIBERIAN STURGEON
E.
Gisbert, P. Williot-2002
Journal
of Fish Biology, 60(5): 1071-1092
Abstract:
Since
first large-scale attempts to culture sturgeon from the larval
stage were carried out in the former U.S.S.R. at the
end of the nineteenth century, rearing technology has
advanced considerably during the last 20 years and
noticeable improvements in incubation and larval rearing
techniques have been implemented in normal hatchery
procedures. Siberian sturgeon eggs are incubated in
MacDonald jars at 13-14°C to prevent fungal
infections. Mass hatching takes place 7 days after
fertilization and hatching rate can be predicted as
a function of the percentage of eggs fertilized. Survival
at the end of the endogenous feeding stage is
correlated with hatching rate. Egg size has no direct
implications for larval growth and survival of
Siberian sturgeon. Experimental studies have demonstrated
that behavioural observations are useful criteria to
assess the quality of larvae and to synchronize the
physiological state of fish with the appropriate rearing
procedures. Special attention should be given to the
transition to exogenous feeding, where cannibalism,
difficulties in adaptation to a new diet, overfeeding
and resulting bacterial infections dramatically
reduces survival to the fingerling stage. Although
a commercial artificial diet specifically formulated
for larvae of Siberian sturgeon and other acipenserids
is still lacking, commercial non-purified rainbow
trout diets and starter marine fish diets are
currently used and their results are reasonably acceptable
in terms of larval growth and survival. Further research
must be focused on the determination of egg quality
indicators in order to provide the producer with the
tools to estimate the viability and performance of the
progeny.
(Laboratorio
de Acuicultura, Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Biología,
Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain,
Tel.: +343 4021447; fax: +343 4035740; email: gisbert@bio.ub.es)