Development of aquaculture techniques for Black Jewfish Protonibea diacanthus, a new species to aquaculture for Australia

Black jewfish Protonibea diacanthus are a large, fast growing fish of the Sciaenidae family, endemic to coastal tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific. In Australia, there is an established commercial wild fishery for the species, but its aquaculture potential has not been investigated. Established aquaculture exists globally for other sciaenids such as the large yellow croaker Larimichthys crocea and red drum Sciaenops ocellatus. Some work on P. diacanthus hatchery production has been initiated in China, Vietnam and Taiwan, but no significant intensive hatchery research or techniques have been published, with no known industry formed thus far. In 2018, a pilot study began at the Northern Territory Government’s Darwin Aquaculture Centre (DAC) on breeding locally caught P. diacanthus and early trials have shown that they are potentially amenable to culture by adapting existing aquaculture technology. Thus, potential exists for P. diacanthus as a new candidate for aquaculture in northern Australia. All successfully farmed finfish species undergo a series of trials to determine optimum production requirements and parameters for culture, and so the following research aims to begin this work. Larval rearing parameters will be the focus of this thesis. Chapter 1 will map the embryonic and larval development of P. diacanthus. Chapter 2 will involve an experiment to determine optimum larval stocking density, followed by Chapter 3, which will assess the effect of live feed enrichment on larval growth, survival and development. Chapter 4 will focus on optimising light intensity levels during larval rearing. Ultimately, this project aims to provide fundamental information on the larval stages and optimal culture requirements of P. diacanthus in aquaculture systems, to determine their suitability as a new aquaculture species for northern Australia.