Growth of Panulius polyphagus from the puerulus stage was studied in the laboratory for twenty

eight months on a diet of Meretrix casta and Perna viridis. The lobsters were kept either in isolation or

in groups of three per tank at laboratory temperature ranging between 21.4° and 29.5°C. The survival

was higher (70%) in those reared in groups, however, the growth rate was not depressed in individuals

held in isolatio

Devarajan, K

Radhakrishnan, E V

CMFRI Digital Repository

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON COASTAL AQUACULTURE Held at Cochin From January 12 to 18, 1980 PART 4 : CULTURE OF OTHER ORGANISMS, ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, TRAINING, EXTENSION AND LEGAL ASPECTS (Issued in December 1986 ) ^^iA0 t,^ftV^P9^9^f^9 MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF INDIA POST BOX NO. 1023, COCHlN-682 031, INDIA Price : Rs. 400.00 EDITORIAL BOAtlD DR. E. G. SILAS DR. P . V. RAO DR. P . V. RAMACHANDRAN NAIR DR. K . RENGARAJAN MR. T. JACOB DR. K . J, MATHEW DR. R. PAUL RAJ DR. S. KULASEKHARAPANDIAN DR. A. G. PONNIAH MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF INDIA COCHIN-682 031, INDIA SYMPOSIUM SERIES 6 Abbreviation Proc. Symp. Coastal AquacuUure, Pt. 4. PRINTED IN INDIA BY A. D. THOMAS STEPHEN AT THE DIOCESAN PRESS, MADRAS 7 AND PUBUSHED BY E. G. SILAS ON BEHALF OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF INDIA, COCHIN-682 031 Proc. Symp, Coastal Aquaculture, 1986, 4 : 1164-1170 GROWTH OF THE SPINY LOBSTER PANUURUS POLYPHAGUS (HERBST) REARED IN THE LABORATORY E. V. RADHAKRISHNAN* AND K . DEVARAJAN* Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin-682 031, India ABSTRACT Growth oi PanuHrus polyphagus from the puerulus stage was studied in the laboratory for twenty eight months on a diet of Meretrix casta and Perna virldis. The lobsters were kept either in isolation or in groups of three per tank at laboratory temperature ranging between 21.4° and 29.5°C. The survival was higher (70%) in those reared in groups, however, the growth rate was not depressed in individuals held in isolation. Carapace length positively correlated with total weight in both sexes of the tested individuals. In captivity the male grew faster than the female. For male the increase in carapace length on an average was 3.3 mm for each moult while it was only 2.6 mm for the female. But there was slight difference in intermoult duration between the sexes. The annual growth rate was 34 mm in carapace length for male and 28 mm for female during the first year and 20 mm for male and 20. S mm for female during the second year. The female attained maturity at an average carapace length of 48 mm. Temperature afifected growth; the intermoult duration was prolonged at low water temperature. INTRODUCTION PALINURID LOBSTERS which is a highly priced commodity, forms a meagre fishery in India (CMFRI, 1979). But the occurrence of puerulii has been reported periodically in b^th east and west coasts of India (Rao and Kathirvel, 1971; GirijavaUabhan and Deva-rajan (1972); Dutt and Ravindranath, 1975). Tholasilingam (1976) reported abundance of three different species of puerulii off Kovalam. It is possible to culture lobsters from the puerulii available in nature to adult sizes. Chittleborough (1974) and Phillips et al. (1977) reared a group of Panulirus longipes cygnus from puerulus to adult und?r subtropical conditions. Fielder (1964) studied the moult-ing and growth in temperate lobster Jasus lalandei. In India, Deshmukh (1966) studied * Present address: Madras Research Centre of CMFRI, 29, CommandeMn-Chief Road, Madras 600 105. the early metamorphosis of Panulirus poly-phagus. Thomas (1972) reported the growth of Panulirus homarus in captivity and Kathirvel (1973) observed regeneration of a lost antenna with depressed growth in P. polyphagus. However, little is known on the growth pattern of tropical palinurid lobsters. The growth of the commercially important palinurid lobster P. polyphagus from puerulus to adult stage is reported for the first time in India. The authors are grateful to Dr. E. G. Silas, Director, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute for encouragement and Shri T. Tholasilingam for providing facilities and guidance. They are also thankful to Dr. E. Vivekanandan for helping in the preparation of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to the staff of Kovalam Field Centre of CMFRI for their help in carrying out the work. GROWTH OF SPINY LOBSTER IN LABORATORY 11€5 MATERUL AND METHODS In early May 1977, fifteen puerulus larvae of the spiny lobster Panulirus polyphagus measuring an average of 8.5 mm in carapace length were collected off Kovalam from Mangalore tiles suspended from a floating raft. They were brought to the field laboratory at Kovalam and acclimatized in three plastic tanks with a Soot area of 0.16 sq.m. Five puerulii were held in each tank and were fed ad libitum on flesh of freshly opened clams Meretrix casta collected daily from Kovalam backwaters and green mussel Perm viridts. The lobsters seem to prefer mussel to dams. During the first nme months only monthly increase in carapace length and weight of lobsters were recorded. A&w nine months, nine healthy individuals were selected and divided into two series. The first series conshted of six animals divided into two groups of three juveniles each and the second series with three animals placed in individual aquarium. Each fibregiass aquarium holding the animals had a floor area of 50 X45 cm with 250 litres of filtered sea water. The animals were provided with hollow tiles for shelter. The water in the aqimrium was replaced twice a week by fresh filtered sea water. Salinity of the water in the aquarium varied from 32.5 %o to 36.2 %<, and that of tempera-ture from 2l.4»-29.5'C. The water was aerated continuously. The aquarium tanks received 16 hr illumination. ITie juvenile lobsters were fed on Meretrix casta. Food was supplied daily at dusk and the uneaten food was removed on the foUow-ing morning. Preliminary observations revealed that the animals did not feed during day time. The tanks were cleaned once a week with least disturbance to the lobsters. Growth measurements of individual lobsters were taken five days after eadi moult when the exoskeleton had sufficiently hardened. The size was recorded by measuring the carapace length (CL) to 0.1 mm accuracy along the mid-dorsal line from the ridge behind the eyes Ojetween the rostral horns) to the posterior margin of the carapace. This was used as the standard length (Berry, 1971) in the present study. Live bodyweight of the animals was measured after removing free water as described by Chittleborough (1975). In crustaceans increase in length and weight occur at and just following moulting. So the two interacting components invcdved in the growth processes are (a) moult increment (increase in size per moult), (b) intermoult duration (duration of the intermoult period). Here growth is mainly referred to as increase in carapace length and weight and growth rate as growth with time. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Orowth of male and/emale P. polyphagus When collected from the sea, the transparent puerulus larvae of P. polyphagus had a mean carapace length of 8.5 mm and weighed an average of 260 mg. The .larvae did not feed till they completed the first moult. Within 2-4 days of their capture, about 80% of the larvae moulted to the post-larval phase. As only the nionthly averages of carapaa length and wei^t were recorded during the first nine moitths of growth, the intermoult duration and moult increment for the period could not be studied. Fig. 1 presents the growth of male and female bbsters reared in groups for a period of 840 days from the time of capture. The males exhibited faster growth rate than the females resulting in largra size in unit time. The estimated average annual increment in carapace length was 34 mm in males and 28 mm in females during the first year and 20 mm and 20.5 mm in carapace 1166 E. V. RADHAKRISHNAN AND K. DEVARA.TAN length for males and females respectively in the second year. The differential growth between sexes has been reported by earlier workers for both wild and laboratory reared palinurid lobsters. Mohammed and George (1968) observed higher growth rate in males than in females of P. homarus from mark-recovery studies. Thomas (1972) also esti-mated an average annual increase in carapace length of 30 mm in males and 17 mm in females of P. homarus. But Chittleborough (1974) and Phillips et al. (1977) found no difference in the growth rate of males and females of P. longipes cygnus. It is interesting to note from Fig. 1 that the growth curve of the female ) 200 400 DAYS 600 BOO 1000 Fig. 1. Panuliruspolyphagus: Mean increase in carapace length (mm) of males and females reared in groups during 840 days ; each point represents the avenige of about 3 individuals. tapers off at about 42 mm CL, whereas it is not the case with males. This is apparently due to deceleration of growth rate in females which becomes evident at the time of attainment of sexual maturity (Berry, 1971). The females of P. polyphagus attained sexual maturity at an average carapace length of 48 mm when tlie lobsters were 2.2 years old. Philipps et al. (1977) estimated the age of P. longipes cygnus as 2.3 years old when the lobsters reached 40-42 mm CL. The difference in age between P. polyphagus and P. longipes cygnus was not due to the faster growth rate of P. polyphagus, but the estimated difference in age of settling puerulus larvae. Chittleborough and Thomas (1969) reported the age of newly settled puerulus krvae of P. longipes cygnus as 0.8 years whereas the age of puerulus of P. poly-phagus was estimated as 0.4 years using the same method. The CL of female P. poly-phagus in the present study reach asymptotic level when it was three years old during which period the male was still in its upward growth phase (Fig. 1). The differential growth rate may have some far reaching implications as it has been shown that the preponderance of one sex in the population is because of the sextial difference in growth (Qasira, 1966). 200 400 600 DAYS Fig. 2. Panulirus polyphagus: Mean increase in weight (g) of males and females reared in groups; each point represents the average of about 3 individuals. The estimated average annual increase in weight was 47.24 g in males and 33.74 g in females during first year and 117.76 g in m^Ies and 111.26 g in females for the second year (Fig. 2). The percentage increase in weight of P. polyphagus at moults ranged from 8.8 to 44%. The percentage increase in weight at GROWTH OF SPINY LOBSTER IN LABORATORY 1167 a moult decreased with increasing size of the lobsters. Travis (1954) and Fielder (1964) made similar observations for P. argus and J. lalandei respectively. Fig, 3 shows the length-weight relationship in males and females. Weight is a function of length and is expressed by the equation W = CL", where W is the weight, L is the carapace length and C and n are constants. The mean CL and weight of the experimental males and females plotted graphically resulted in an exponential curve. The regression of log bodyweight (W in gram) on log carapace length was Male log W = 3.14 log L — 3.45 Female log W = 3.71 log L —4.3 too 160 «I20 X SO 40 0 30 40 SO «0 CARAPACE LENGTH (MM> 70 Fig, 3, Pamlirus polyphagus: Relationship between carapace length (mm) and weight (g) of males and females; each point represents tiie average of about 3 individuals. To imderstand the growth processes in lobsters, intermoult duration and moult incre-ment were studied. The intermoult duration increased with age in both sexes (Fig. 4 a) and in males it was slightly longer than in females (52 and 45,5 days respectively). Though the females moiilted 12 times and the males only 11 times in 800 days, females could attain only 60 mm CL, whereas the males attained 65 mm during the same period. Hence, the lobsters were not able to exhibit faster growth by shortening the intermoult duration. The in-crease in carapace length at moult (moult increment) was plotted against the number of moxilts (Fig. 4 b). Eventhough there was con-siderable variations in moult increment among individuals, as also noticed by Phillips et ah (1911), the mean moult increment in CL was higher for males (3.3 mm) than for females (2.6 mm). There was a gradual increase in the moxilt increment at successive moults in females for the first four moults, which there-after fluctuated considerably. In males the moult increment in CL did not fluctuate much during successive moults; but the increment was clearly higher than the female except in the VI moult (Fig. 4 b). Hence the larger size acquired by the male at imit time was due to a higher moiilt increment in carapace length than shortened intermoult duration. The differential growth rate may also be due to deceleration of growth rate in females aftet attainment of sexual maturity resulting in an increasing divergence of the growth curves of males and females with increase in size (Berry, 1971). Morgan (1977) also found that in wild adult P. longipes cygms, moult increment depressed with increasing size with adult males having a higher moult increment than females of the same size. Chittleborough (197Q observed that moult increment of males of the same species increased from ages 3+ to 5-\* years, while those of the females did not very significantly between these age groups, and the moult increment of females was significantly below that of males. The effect of temperature on frequency of moulting in palinurid lobsters has been studied in detail by earlier workers (Travis, 1954; Serfling and Ford, 1975; Phillips et al, 1977). The prolotiged intermoult duration in lobsters 1168 E. V. RADHAKRISHNAN AND K. DEVARAJAN reared in groups in this experiment coincided juveniles (upto an average of 30 mm CL) of with the fall in water temperature (Fig. 4 a, P. polyphagus were observed to be gregarious 4 c). and preferred to hide under shelter during day 3 4 5 6 MOULT NUMBER Fig. 4. Panulirus polyphagus: a. Mean intermoult duration against number of moults of male (•) and female (O) reared in groups of three. (A) represents the mean intermoult duration of three isolated individuals; b. Mean moult increment in carapace length against number of moults of male (•) and female (O) reared in groups of three. (A) represents the mean moult increment in CL of isolated individuals and c. Monthly mean water temperature in the laboratory during 1978 and 1979. Effect of social pressure on growth Social pressures influence moulting and growth.in crustaceans as this is presumably a reflection of their gregarious or solitary behaviour in nature (Aiken, 1977). The early time. The isolated individimls confined to the shelter during the commencement of the experiment; later they were foraging the bottom of the aquarium as they were acclima-tized. P. polyphagus did not show significant GROWTH OF SPINY LOBSTER IN LABORATORY 1169 difference in growth rate when reared in iso-lation or in groups (Fig. 5). The intewnoalt duration (Fig. 4 a) and moult incwjnwnt (Fig. 4 b) were almost similar in both the 8 « ^ , but the isolated individuals did not sufVlve beyond the sixth moult (i.e. after 525 dap). Phillips et (j/. (1977) also found no signitoot difference in the growth of isolated and grouped individuals of P. longipes cygms until they were 3 years old and Chittleborouj^ (1975) reported depressed growth rate in isototion for 400 600 DAYS 1000 Fig. 5. Panuliurs polyphagm: Mean increase in cara< pace lengA (mm) of grouped (A) and isolated (A) individuals; each point of grouped series represents the average of about 6 individuals and that of isolated series 3 individuals. the same species which were more than 3 years old. Feeding behaviour during moulting Ihfi animals stopped feeding 2-3 days before ecdysis; moulting took place mostly during night. The moulting pattern \ms similar to other palinurid lobsters (Travis, 1954). After moulting the animals were inactive and were hiding under shelter. Feeding commenced 2-3 days after ecdysis. The peak consumption of food was 5-6 days after moulting, which gradually reduced as the next moult was nearing. Mortality Mortality in the aquarium was about 30% in those reared in groups during the experi-mental period of 840 days whereas all the animals in isolation died within 525 days. The mortaUty was mainly during moulting when the carapace or walking legs were en-tangled in the old exoskeleton and the aninmls were unable to free themselves. Moulting abnormalities were also noticed in early juveniles. The antennae and the head folded-l^ck interfering with the normal feeding of the animals. The lobsters below 25 cm CL autotomised limbs on handling, but it is un-common in larger numbers of the species. R E F E R E N C E S AuCEN, D. E. 1977. Moulting and growth in decapod crustaceans with particular reference to the lobster Homarus americamis. Paper presented at the U.S.-Australia Worlsshop on the Physiology and Ecology of Lobsters, Perth, Australia. BERRY. P. F. 1971. The biology of the spiny lobster PamtHms homarus (Linnaeus) off the east coast of Southern Africa. Imest. Rep. Oceanogr. Bes. Inst., 28:1-75. CHrrTLBBOROUOH, R. G. 1974. Western rock lobster reared to maturity. Aust. J. mar. Freshwat. Res.,7S: 221-225. — 1975. Environmental factors affecting growth and survival of juvenile western rock lobsters. Ibid., 26.: 177-196. • 1976. Growth of juvenile western lodc tobster Pmulina loi^pes (Milne-Edwards) on coastal reefs compared with those reared under optimum en> vironmentel conditions. Ibid., 27: 279-295. AND L. R. THOMAS 1969. Larval ecology of the western Australian marine crayfish, with notes upon other panulirid larvae from the eastern Indian Ocean. /Wrf., 20:199-223. C.M.F.R.1. series, 9. 1979. Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv. T & B DESHMUKH, S. 1966. The puenilus of the spiny lobster Panmm polyphagus (Herbst) and the meta-nunidiosis into tiie post puenilus. Crustaeeana, 10(2) : I 3 7 . m 1170 E. V. RADHAKRISHNAN AND K. DEVARAJAN Dinr, S. AND K. RAVINDRANATH 1975, Puerulii of Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst) (Crustaceana: Decapoda) (Palinuridae) from east coast of India with a key to known Indo-West Pacific puerulii of Palinurid lobsters. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., 82B (3): 100-107. FIELDER, D . R . 1964, The spiny lobsters Jasus Idlandei (St. Milne-Edwards) in South Australia. 1. Growth of captive animals. Aust. J. mar. Freshwat. Res.i 15 (t):n-92. GiRIJAVALLABHAN, K. G, AND K. D E V A R A J A N 1972. On the occurrence of puerulus of spiny lobster Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst) along Madras Coast. Indian J. Fish., 2 5 ( 1 & 2 ) : 2i 3-254. KATHIRVEL, M . 1973. The growth and regenera-tion of an aquarium held spiny lobster Panulirus poly-phagus (Herbst) (Crustacea ; Decapoda : Palinuridae). Indian J. Fish., 20 •.219-221. MOHAMMED, K. H . AND M . J. GEORGE 1968. Results of the tagging experiments on the Indian spiny lobster Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus) — movement and growth. Ibid., 15 :15-26. MoRGAi^ , G. R. 1977. Aspects of the population dynamics of the western rock lobster and their role in management. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Western Australia. PHILLIPS, B . F . , N . A. CAMPBELL AND W . A, REA 1977. Laboratory growth of early juveniles of the western rock lobster Panulirus longipes cygnus. Marine Biology, 39-: 31-39. QASIM, S. Z . 1966. Sex-ratio in fish populations as a function of sexual differences in growth rate. Curr, 5c/,, 35: 140-142, RAO, P , V. AND M , KATHIRVEL 1971. On the seasonal occurrence of Penaeus semisulcatus De Haan, Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst) and Portunus (P.) pela-gicus (Linnaeus) m the Cochin Backwaters. Indian J. Fish., 18 :129-134. SERFLING, S. A . AND R , F . FORD 1975. Labora-tory culture of juvenile stages of the California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus (Randall) at elevated tem-peratures. Aquaculture, 6 : 377-387, A note on mariculture THOLASILINGAM, T . 1976. of spiny lobsters (MS). THOMAS, M . M . 1972. Growth of the spiny lobster Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus) in captivity. Indian J. Fish., 19: 125-129. TRAVIS, D . F . 1954. The moulting cycle of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus (Latreille). I Moulting and growth in laboratory-maintained individuals. Biol. Bull. Woods Hole, 107: 433-450. 

Growth of the spiny lobster Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst) reared in the laboratory

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Growth of the spiny lobster Panulirus polyphagus (Herbst) reared in the laboratory

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