Growth and reproduction of tropical seahorse Hippocampus kuda in captivity

Abstract

An attempt was made to maintain a brood stock of seahorse, spawn
them under controlled conditions and rear the young ones to maturity.
The spawning yielded about 300 baby seahorses with a mean length of
9.0mm. The young ones reared under controlled condition using copepods
and rotifers as feed showed steady increase in the body length and weight.
Over a period of 176 days they had grown to a size of 78.0 mm in length
and 1.6 g in weight. The size at first maturity of male was estimated as
65mm. The number of babies released at first spawning was found to be
60-70. Development of pouch and their size does not seem to have any
relevance to the possible mating and impregnation in the males but is
dependent only on the subsequent pairing of seahorse. A description of
the developing embryo obtained from 70mm sized seahorse is detailed.