Survival and growth of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) in a land-situation mesocosm. In: Flødevigen rapportserie no 2, 1990

• Main Authors: Danielssen, Didrik S., Haugen, Arne S., Øiestad, Victor
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Havforskningsinstituttet 1990
• Subjects: Scophthalmus maximus; Turbot; Copepods
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/115082

A mesocosm study of turbot larvae was undertaken in a 2000 m^3 outdoor basin into which 15000 yolk sac larvae were released. Scarce food supply during first feeding gave high initial mortality and only 10% survived the first 10 days. The diet was dominated by nauplii through first feeding followed by a swift change to larger food items, mainly calanoid copepods. These were replaced from day 20 onwards by juvenile amphipods. The surviving turbot were distributed in the surface layer from day 15 until the onset of settlement on day 25. Standard length increased from 3 mm at release to 20 mm on day 30, and during the same period the dry weight increased from 0.030 mg to 32 mg. At termination on day 74, standard length was 38 mm and mean dry weight was 340 mg (wet weight being 1.9 g) with 600 juvenile turbot surviving to this stage (4%). All juveniles were normally pigmented and without any deformations.