WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2014 29 Black snook Centropomus nigrescens (Fig. 1) is a popular gamefish and an important high-value commercial species along the Eastern Pacific coast (from 33°N to 20°S) (Vega 2004, Cotto et al. 2010). This euryhaline, catadromous species is found from southern Baja California and in the mouth of the Gulf of California, Mexico, to northern Colombia (Fig. 2). Adults live in mangrove areas, lagoons, estuaries and freshwater ponds (Robins et al. 1991, Escárcega 2010). Like common snook C. undecimalis on the Atlantic coast, black snook is a potential species for aquaculture because of its high demand, size, and culinary value. Currently black snook farming is limited to grow-out farms using wild juveniles; limited reproduction in captivity has been achieved. Previous attempts to reproduce black snook in captivity have met with inconsistent success. Black snook maturation and spawning has only been reported for work done in Ecuador (Carvajal) in 1997, when 8 mature wild females and 5 males were induced to spawn, achieving a 0.7 percent fertilization rate. The goal of our research was to transport wild-harvested black snook from Costa Rica to Mote Aquaculture and Research Park (Mote) in Sarasota, Florida, and utilize our existing broodstock facility and expertise in centropomid reproduction to identify protocols needed to control maturation and spawning of black snook in captivity on demand. Black Snook Broodstock Collection Mature black snook, ranging from ~52 to 78 cm in length and 1.64 to 5.02 kg, were captured with hook and line in Golfo Dulce near Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica. Fish were transported to (CONTINUED ON PAGE 30) Controlled Maturation and Spawning of Captive Black Snook Matthew J. Resley, Michael Nystrom, Carlos Yanes-Roca, Kenneth M. Leber and Kevan L. Main TOP. FIGURE 1. Female black snook broodfish during sampling event at Mote. LEFT, FIGURE 2. Geographic range of black snook. RIGHT, FIGURE 3. Black snook packaged in shipping bags before sealing.
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