Abstract:
The study attempts to mcrease live food visibility for juvenile seahorses,
Hippocampus kuda with edible non-toxic colorants by manipulating the prey and tank
background colour. Effects of four different colours of dyed Artemia prey - red
Ponceau 4R, brilliant blue, apple green and clear, nonnal Artemia - against three
background colours: white, black and clear tanks, towards prey ingestion were
determined. There were two experiments involved in this study: Experiment A,
testing on the effects of mixed prey colours against three background colours towards
H. kuda juvenile seahorses from 1 to almost 3 months old. Red prey colour was
significantly more consumed (p<0.05) than clear Artemia in all tank backgrounds.
There were no significant effects (p>0.05) of background colour toward prey
ingestion. Experiment B was to test the effects of one prey colour against three
backgrounds colours. No significant differences (p>0.05) were found between
coloured prey ingestion in all background colours and in between background colours
with respect to one prey colour (p>0.05). Two-way ANOV A tests also recorded no
significant interaction (p>0.05) between prey colour and background colour. Prey
colour preference sequence by H. kuda according to percentage of prey ingestion in
experiment A was red > blue > green > clear while experiment B sequence was red >
green > blue > clear.
