Captive Breeding of Two Coastal Fish Species of Bangladesh for Land-Based and Cage Aquaculture

Project Title: Captive Breeding of Two Coastal Fish Species of Bangladesh for Land-Based and Cage Aquaculture

Project Funded by: Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project (SCMFP), Department of Fisheries (DoF), Ministry of Fisheries & Livestock, Bangladesh

Principal Investigator (PI): Prof. Dr. Harunur Rashid, Department of Fisheries Management, Faculty of Fisheries, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh

Co-PI: Dr. Md. Mahiuddin Zahangir, Associate Professor, Department of Fish Biology and Biotechnology, Chattogram  Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU), Chattogram

Project Duration: July 2022 – June 2023

Project Location: Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Field Laboratory (Hatchery): Coastal Biodiversity, Marine Fisheries and Wildlife Research Centre, CVASU, Cox’s Bazar Campus

Research Objectives: The proposed research is aimed at developing captive breeding for land-based and cage aquaculture of coastal salt-water fish species of Bangladesh. To achieve this broad objective, the sub-project team is willing to trial domestication, captive breeding and aquaculture using two coastal euryhaline fish species of Bangladesh, viz. long whiskers catfish (Mystus gulio, locally ‘nona tengra’) and spotted scat (Scatophagus argus, locally ‘chitra’ or ‘bishtara’). Moreover, Cox’s Bazar coast is taken as coastal site for development of aquaculture models. For the first year, the sub-project has the following specific objectives.

  1. A) Domestication, induced breeding and fry production of long whiskers catfish and spotted scat in captivity.
  2. B) Culture and identification of feed ingredients or additives supporting enhancing captive maturation and fry survival.