Developing Commercial-Scale Low-Salinity Culture Protocols for Gulf Killifish, Fundulus Grandis

Gulf Killifish Fundulus grandis is an estuarine species used as a live bait for marine sport fishes, native from Veracruz, Mexico, along the Northern Gulf of Mexico coast, to the eastern coast of Florida. Culture protocols are established, but Gulf Killifish have not been fully adopted as a commercially produced species by producers, possibly due to economic efficiency and needs for advances related to inland production. Therefore, production methods from spawning in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) to grow-out to market size in earthen ponds were examined. Increasing broodstock density or spawning substrate surface area did not increase egg production in RAS. In freshwater, juvenile Gulf Killifish exhibited broad pH and hardness tolerances, and multiple cohorts were stocked and grown to market size in one season in earthen ponds, with rapid growth rates at 50,000 fish/ha. After low-salinity rearing, osmotic stress differed between cohorts, but overall salinity tolerance was not affected