Viability of culturing pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum in low-salinity groundwater from the Yucatán Peninsula (SE, México)

Abstract

In the Gulf of Mexico constraints linked to the supply of post-larvae (PL) and legal pressures associated with the introduction of a non-native species have been the motives behind research on the aquaculture of the native shrimp. In the present study, the growth and survival of 25-day-post-larvae (PL-25) of the pink shrimp Farfantepenaeus duorarum in saline groundwaters were evaluated. During the experiment the shrimps were acclimated from 36 psu to 5 psu utilizing various acclimation times ( T1 = 38 h, T2 = 42 h, and T3 = 45 h) with a variable rate of salinity reduction ( T1 = 9.9% h − 1 , T2 = 11.8% h − 1 , and T3 = 11.4% h − 1 ). After a 1-day acclimation period there were no differences ( P > 0.05) in survival between treatments (80.7 ± 3.5%). The salinity reduction rate of T1 (low acclimation time) was selected to acclimatize the PL for the nursery experiment due to the high survival rate recorded after the salinity stress test. During the nursery experiment, shrimp at a density of 80 PL m − 2 had the highest growth rate (20 mg week − 1 ) ( F (2,9) = 10.73; P < 0.05) and survival rate (79%) ( F (2,9) = 4.93; P < 0.05) in comparison to other densities (150 PL m − 2 ; 250 PL m − 2 ). The PL growth was adjusted to a non-linear regression function (0.030 * e (0.035 * d)). Shrimp at 80 PL m − 2 ( t = 0.87) and 150 PL m − 2 ( t = 1.54) showed isometric growth (Ho = b = 3). Temperature was the only environmental variable that explained the most consecutive additional variance (80.1%) in the PL weight. The temperature–growth response curve was fitted to a generalized additive model (GAM). Results from this research demonstrate that F. duorarum (PL-25) can be successfully acclimated to low-salinity (5 psu) conditions with a high percentage of survival and an acceptable growth rate in the nursery phase (45 days). In the future efforts should be made to improve survival at higher densities in order to make production profitable.