The influence of temperature and salinity on oxygen consumption of Penaeus monodon postlarvae

Abstract

The effect of salinity and temperature on oxygen consumption at different developmental ages of Penaeus monodon postlarvae (P5 to P60) was studied. The design was a 2 × 5 factorial, using two levels of temperature (15 and 30°C) and 4 levels of salinity (10, 15, 20 and 30 ppt). One-day old postlarvae (P1) were acclimated to various salinities prior to the start of the experiments. Oxygen consumption was determined after three hours using a YSI dissolved oxygen meter vis-a-vis Winkler titration method.

Respiratory activity as affected by temperature and salinity varies, dependent on the postlarval stage tested. Statistical analyses showed that temperature did not significantly influence oxygen uptake at early stages (P5-P8) until P25-P28. Its effect started to become apparent when the postlarvae were P35-P38 and was most pronounced at P49-P52. general, the postlarvae consumed more oxygen at higher temperature and the variation in the oxygen consumption of the postlarvae under the two temperatures become less obvious as the postlarvae were older. Salinity seemed to affect the oxygen consumption of the young postlarvae, P5-P8 and P25-P28, more than temperature. Differences in rate of oxygen consumption at various salinities were greater in younger postlarvae (P5-P38) than in older postlarvae (P42_P60). The relationship between rate of oxygen consumption and body weight is nearly linear in the various salinity-temperature treatments. In all cases, the regression was significant at 1% level. P. monodon postlarvae behaved as respiratory con-formers in all the salinities tested at ambient temperatures.

The least oxygen consumption rate was noted at salinities of 20 and 30 ppt at low temperature (15°C) and 20 ppt at high temperature (30°C). The importance of these findings is discussed and related to improvement of postlarvae transport methodology.