The golden trevally, a popular marine fish in Tamil Nadu’s coastline, has been successfully bred in captivity by scientists at ICAR-CMFRI’s Visakhapatnam station. After five years of research, the team led by Ritesh Ranjan, senior scientist, has achieved a breakthrough and developed seed production technology for the ‘pulli paarai meen’, whose scientific name is the Gnathanodon speciosus.
The team has successfully developed broodstock, bred it in captivity, and did larval rearing after five years of research, and started research efforts on seed production of this fish in 2019. Juveniles of 40-50g collected from the wild were reared in in their cage farm facility off the Visakhapatnam coast.
These fish were raised in cages for 3-4 years until they reached maturity (3.5-4.5kg). After separating males and females, the mature fish were transferred to a land-based tank system with a 40 cubic meter capacity. Natural spawning occurred on February 9, 2024. After 51 days of rearing post-hatch, the early fry reached an average size of 3 cm and attained a weight of 450 mg with a very good survival rate.
