Preliminary observation on breeding three spotted seahorse, Hippocampus trimaculatus (Leach, 1814), solely fed with wild caught amphipods under ex - situ condition

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the reproductive efficiency of the wild caught brooding seahorse population which was
compared with captive bred F₁ generation. Aquaculture has been proposed as a solution to address unsustainable trade in seahorse, and for continuous seed production in the aquaculture system information with regard to inter-mating duration and clutch size of the female seahorse are very much needed hence a attempt was made since this information lacks for most of the seahorse studied. The number of juveniles released by wild caught seahorse ranged from 318 to 635, whereas in F₁ generation it ranged from 36 and 238. In captive condition seahorse (F₁) mated two to four times during the experimental period of six months and the time interval between two mating events was between 2 and 63 days. Gestation period ranged from 12 to 14 days at 30^OC. The clutch size of the matured un-paired females ranged from 17 to 106 and the inter clutch release period ranged from 14 to 51 days.