Nursery rearing of cobia in Taiwan: problem, recent developments and strategies

Abstract

Cobia is currently the most popular species for off-shore cage culture in tropical and sub-tropical areas due to its fast growth and adaptability for captive breeding for mass fry production. Taiwan, as the leading producer of cobia in the world, has well established technologies for broodstock management, larval rearing, nursery and grow-out productions. However, many problems are still encountered by cobia farmers in all aspect of its culture. Well-established nursery system is one of the strategies to solve some of these problems that impede the further development of the cobia industry. Establishment of cobia nursery can avoid cannibalism thus improve juvenile survival, can shorten the culture period in grow-out cages, can avoid avian predation, and facilitate quarantine and vaccination procedures. Current problems and suggested strategies in the nursery production of cobia are also presented in this chapter.