Effects of Water Depth and Water Flow Duration on Growth and Survival of Juvenile Spotted Babylon (Babylonia areolata) Cultured in a Flow-Through System

Abstract

Eight growth trials of juvenile B. areolata at different water depths (20 and 50 cm) and water flow durations (6, 12, 18, and 24 h) were conducted in a flow-through culture system over 5 months. One-way ANOVA performed on each growth data set showed that there were significant differences among water depth (WD) and water flow duration (WFD) treatments (P < 0.05). The highest weight gain (6.29 g  /snail) was found in snails reared in the treatment of WD₅₀/WFD₂₄, followed by those from WD₅₀  /WFD₁₈ (6.15 g/snail), WD₅₀/WFD₁₂ (5.90 g/snail), WD₅₀  /WFD₆ (5.83 g/snail), WD₂₀  /WFD₂₄ (5.86 g/snail), and WD₂₀/WFD₁₈ (5.87 g  /snail), while the lowest one was found in WD₂₀/WFD₆ (5.52 g/snail) and WD₂₀/WFD₁₂ (5.57 g/snail). The relative weight gain (RWG) and individual weight gain (IWG) of the snails showed similar trends as the weight gain. Final survival exceeded 95% for all treatments. Based on all criteria, the best growth performances of juvenile spotted babylon were found in the WD₅₀/WFD₁₈ and WD₅₀  /WFD₂₄ treatments, followed by the treatments of WD₅₀/WFD₁₂, WD₅₀/WFD₆, WD₂₀  /WFD₂₄, and WD₂₀  /WFD₁₈; the lowest growth was found in WD₂₀/WFD₆ and WD₂₀/WFD₁₂.

KEYWORDS:

• Babylonia areolata
• water flow duration
• water depth
• flow-through system
• growth
• survival

This study was supported by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), which provided the funding for this research in the fiscal years 1996–2008. We are especially grateful to Professor Yutaka Natsukari, Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Japan, for his encouragement and critical reading of the manuscript.