Intensive Cultivation of the Calanoid Copepod Oithona Rigida for Mariculture Purpose

The cyclopoida copepod Oithona rigida has good potential for mass culture as a live feed. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of salinity on density of O.rigida four ranges with 15, 25, 35 and 45 ‰ and mass cultured under four salinity levels (15,25,35,and 45 ‰) in 5 L fiberglass tanks over 19 days culture period. However, it is better to be cultured at salinity of 35 ‰ for maximum population density growth. O.rigida was cultured at temperature 25-26 °C and fed with two algal diets including chlorella vulgaris and Skeletonema costatum. During the culture period production average was 6722 org/l. Among these, nauplii, copepodids and adults density was observed 2,625 org/l, 2,110 org/l, and 1, 987 org/l respectively. The present results concluded that O.rigida would be culture with mass production in stipulated period for mariculture purposes.