Survival and Settlement Rates of Haliotis asinina Larvae at Different Salinity Levels

The study was conducted to determine the optimum salinity levels (24ppt, 28 ppt, 32 ppt, 36 ppt and 40 ppt) for the survival and settlement ratesof H. asinina in a complete randomized design with three replicates each. Theexperimental animals were reared in 15 glass aquaria for the first run and inplexiglass for the second run. Feeding of Navicula spp. was done once a day.Temperature and dissolved oxygen were monitored throughout the experiment.Data were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA to determine significant differenceamong treatments at 0.05 level of significance using Social Package for SocialScience. Result of the first run showed that 32 ppt had the highest mean survival(1.50%) and mean settlement rate (1.84%). Similar result was also observed in32 ppt with highest mean survival (9.72%) and mean settlement rate (16.42%).Significant difference existed among treatments during the second run of theexperiment. Results showed that 28 ppt and 32 ppt were the optimum salinitylevels for survival and settlement rate of H. asinina. Further study should beconducted to determine the tolerance and settlement rates of H. asininalarvae tolower salinities until it reaches juvenile stage with first respiratory pore appearing.