Breeding and larval rearing of the milkfish Chanos chanos (Pisces: Chanidae)

Contribution No. 11 of the Aquaculture Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, P.O. Box 256, Iloilo City 5901, Philippines.Two sexually maturing female milkfish were captured in April 1977 and induced to spawn by means of acetone-dried Pacific salmon pituitary powder. The eggs were fertilized and incubated and the resultant young reared to 74-day old, 11 cm long fingerlings. Newly fertilized eggs averaged 1.16 mm in diameter and each had a narrow perivitelline space containing several cortical granules which disappeared within a few minutes. The yolk was slightly yellowish, devoid of oil globules and very finely granulated. Embryonic development was very similar to that of other pelagic fish eggs and hatching occurred between 35 to 36 hr at a salinity of 32 ppt and a temperature range of 28.4-29.2°C.This study was partially supported through a grant to the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department by the International Development Research Centre of Canada, under Project No. 3-P-74-0146