Studies on the biology and culture of the neritic squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana Lesson: effects of stocking density on survival rate

The neritic squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana Lesson is one of the promising candidates for mariculture. However, culture of young squid from day 1 to 7 after hatching is still a problem. Among several factors, the initial stocking density is one of the most probable reasons. Newly hatched squid were cultured in cylindrical glass containers of 12 litres capacity at densities of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 individuals /10 litres. Each treatment was repeated 3 times. The squids were fed live mysids Mesopodopsis sp., which were kept abundant and alive in the containers to eliminate food as a limiting factor. All water in the culture facility was renewed daily with fresh filtered seawater. The survival rates were 60, 35, 30, 10, and 4 % respectively. The stocking density was negatively correlated with the survival