Study on growth and survival of early stage larvae of Tachypleus gigas (horseshoe crab) feeding on copepod

Abstract

Studies on the growth and survival of Tachypleus gigas larvae to copepod diet were conducted in the laboratory Aquatrop UMT. Seeds collected from the beach Balok, Kuantan where the egg is almost hatched at the '4 th of Embryonic moulting 'is taken from the natural environment. The study was conducted for 25 days to take care of trilobite larvae from the age of 5 days in 6 separate beakers to monitor the growth rate and survival rate oflarvae of Tachypleus gigas. 3 of the beaker fed with copepod diet and another 3 beaker fed with Artemia as a control for this study. Results from this study showed the rate of growth and survival rates of copepod larvae with a diet lower than that of larvae with Artemia diet. 85% of the larvae fed copepod survive at the end of the study compared with 91 % of the Artemia fed larvae. From this study, other than live food nutritional factors, the live food ability to avoid predator is also a factor to be considered in the early stage Tachyp/eus gigas feeding.