SEA CAGE CULTURE OF STOCKING DENSITY-DEPENDENT SPINY LOBSTER ( PANULIRUS ORNATUS): ITS GROWTH AND SURVIVAL UNDER SULU WATER CONDITION

The study was conducted under Sulu water condition sea cage culture of stocking density dependent spinylobster (Panulirus ornatus). Its growth performance and survival rate focused on the effects of varying stockingdensities. There were three treatments: Treatment I with 10 stocking density, treatment II at 20 stocking densityand treatment III with 30 stocking density. Each treatment was replicated thrice. From April 11 to August 11,2013, the following results were obtained where treatment I got the highest survival percentage of 86.6%,growth increment in length 29.45mm and weight increment of 68.76g; treatment II, a survival rate of 76.66%,length increment of 31.80mm and weight increment 62.15g, while treatment III, got the lowest survivability of44.4% and increase in length of 33.58 mm with weight increase of 61.5g. Mixed diet of ground stingray meatand by-catch trash fishes were used as feeds for the whole culture period. Based on the results obtained fromthe study of Solanki, et.al (2012) cages with higher stocking densities resulted in less stocking density resultsin the mortality of all lobsters. However, in this particular experiment, less stocking density obtained highestsurvival rate and higher growth rate. Mortality is highest in dense populated cages. This is attributed to limitedspace since cages are of uniform sizes