Durban — The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (Saambr) has identified the fish larvae it collected off the coast of Durban in July.
Saambr had said it was not sure exactly what species they were at the early stage of their development but it should become clearer as they continued to develop. The entity did surmise that they could be sardines.
Saambr’s Ann Kunz said during the second week of July this year, Saambr collected eggs at sea 40 nautical miles off Durban and placed them in its hatchery grow-out tanks.
“We identified the fastest growing larvae as mackerel, Scomber japonicus. This is the first time we have cultured these incredibly fast-growing fish in our hatchery, and it has been remarkable watching the tiny larvae develop into these beautiful juveniles, now already 8cm total length, in just 5 weeks. We feed them 4-5 times a day on a variety of wet food and fish pellets,” Kunz said.
She said that mackerel often occur in large shoals off the KZN coast where they spawn from July to December.
Last month, Kunz said that the eggs hatched two days after they were placed into special grow-out tanks.
She said that scientists have over the years recorded high volumes of sardine eggs on the edge of the continental shelf in July and August and the eggs they collected coincided with their findings.
“The collection of eggs was part of uShaka Sea World’s exciting research programme to grow some of our own fish for display from eggs collected in both the aquarium and at sea,” she said..
Kunz said that they were continuing the work of the late Allan Connell who spent 26 years studying the eggs and early larvae of pelagic spawning fishes along the KwaZulu-Natal coast.
Daily News