Growing mullet in aquaculture

Mullet is a valuable species of fish that is well known to residents in the Mediterranean and on the shores of the Black Sea; mullet meat is famous for its excellent taste. This is an object of fishing for amateur and commercial fishermen. Fish farmers have been raising mullet for a long time, but there are still many niches left where mullet can be raised, so it's worth taking a closer look at mullet and the possibilities for growing them.

Content

• Description of mullet fish
• What is a mullet
• Types of mullet
• Where does the mullet live?
• What does a mullet look like?
• What does mullet eat?
• How does mullet spawn?
• Are mullet grown artificially on farms?
• Growing mullet

 

Description of mullet fish

Let's look at what a mullet is, give a brief description of mullet fish, what a mullet looks like, where a mullet lives, and what their features are, before we start considering the question of how to grow a mullet.

What is a mullet

What is mullet, what kind of fish is it? Mullet is a fish well known to residents of the Azov, Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas, as well as to residents of the shores of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. There are several types of mullet, but on average, a mullet is a fish ranging in size from 20 to 50 cm. Mullets are known for their delicious meat, which is extremely highly valued by chefs. It is worth taking a closer look at the types of mullet.

Types of mullet

In mullet, species can be roughly divided into geographical groups - Black Sea mullet, Azov mullet, Caspian mullet, Far Eastern mullet. But this division of mullet into species is not scientific.

If we take the scientific definition, then in the world there are 18 genera of mullet-shaped fish, and there are 81 species of mullet. Species of mullet fish in our seas are common in the following taxonomy

Mullet family – Mugilidae

Genus of Mullet-Lisa – Liza

Liza aurata – Golden grey mullet
Liza haematocheilus – so-iuy mullet
Liza saliens – Leaping mullet

Genus Gray mullet – Mugil

Mugil cephalus – flathead grey mullet

The Black Sea mullet includes 5 types of mullet, three of which are the golden grey mullet, which is also called the mullet, bystryug, shkrebetukha, as well as such types of mullet as mullet and sharpnose, which are of great commercial importance. The Black Sea mullet also includes the so-iuy mullet, which, being a Far Eastern mullet, was successfully acclimatized in the Azov and Black Seas. The Azov mullet also includes the same species of Black Sea mullet.

The Far Eastern mullet is also the mullet.

The Caspian mullet includes such types of mullet as golden grey mullet and sharpnose. These mullet species were acclimatized in the Caspian Sea.

Where does the mullet live?

Where are mullet found? Let's figure out what waters the mullet lives in.

Where is mullet found in the sea or river? Mullet is a marine fish that prefers to live in coastal sea waters, often entering lagoons, estuaries, and river mouths. Mullet lives in salty, brackish waters, mullet of the Lisa species can live in fresh waters. Mullet lives in waters with salinity from 0 to 35 ppm salts (the optimal amount of salts for mullet is from 10 to 32 ppm). Therefore, mullet can be considered both a sea fish and a freshwater fish.

What kind of fish is mullet, where is it found? Mullet is a warm-water fish, so mullet lives in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The mullet mainly lives in the tropics, occupying a wide range from New Zealand and Australia to the Black Sea and the Sea of Japan. Mullet is a common inhabitant of Mediterranean waters. Mullet prefers water with a temperature from 3 - 4 to 35 C.

Where is mullet fish found in Russia? In Russian waters, mullet is found in the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, the Black and Azov Seas, and the Caspian Sea.

Mullet fish is not demanding in terms of oxygen.

Mullet fish lives in the sea and sea bays, in lagoons and estuaries, at river mouths. Mullet spawns in the sea, and to feed, the mullet migrates to fresh waters, where the mullet feeds until the fall. For the winter, mullet migrates to the sea. But if the fish channels from the estuary are filled with sand, then the mullet can winter without going to sea.

 

 

 

What does a mullet look like?

What does a mullet fish look like? The mullet has a spindle-shaped body covered with large scales. The mullet's head is flattened. The fish has a small mouth. The mullet has two dorsal fins (the front fin of the mullet has spiny rays). This is what a mullet looks like, but different types of mullet have their own differences.

The genus of gray mullet looks like this: the scales on the head begin in front of the front nostrils. The upper part of the head and back of the mullet are dark in color with a silver tint, the sides of the mullet are silvery, and there are approximately 12 brownish longitudinal stripes on the sides. There is a blue spot above the base of the pectoral fin. The caudal and dorsal fins are gray-black, the anal fin is gray, and the ventral fins are light-colored. The maximum length of the mullet reaches 75 cm.

In the Lisa mullet genus, the back of the upper jaw curves below the tip of the upper jaw. The scales on a fish's snout begin behind the rear nostrils. The fatty eyelid around the eye is absent or rudimentary. The mullet does not have elongated lobes above the base of the pectoral fin.ki. On the sides of the mullet's body there are 6–7 brown longitudinal stripes. On top, the body of the mullet is gray-blue, the sides of the fish are silvery with longitudinal gray stripes; The mullet has golden spots on its head and gill cover. The anal fin of the fish is light. In the Caspian Sea, the length of the mullet reaches 50 cm; in the Black Sea, the length of the mullet reaches 43 cm.

What does mullet eat?

What does mullet eat? Adult mullet fish feed on detritus, plankton, and benthos.

The larvae of gray mullet feed on zooplankton; a month after hatching, the juveniles gradually switch to a diet typical of adult mullet, consuming organic detritus, fouling, benthic crustaceans, and worms. Gray mullet stops feeding during migration (spring, spawning and autumn). In warm winters, the mullet feeds poorly and the mullet completely stops feeding in cold winters.
Juveniles 0.5–1.5 cm long in Lisa's mullet feed on plankton; at a length of 2.5–6 cm, it switches to a mixed diet, consuming plankton, benthic organisms, and detritus; mullet with a length of 6 cm or more feeds on detritus.

In fish farming, mullet feeding on detritus is valued because it occupies a free niche in the reservoir, while reducing the likelihood of death.

How does mullet spawn?

How does the mullet spawn? As a rule, mullet spawns in the sea. Mullet is a very prolific fish: the number of eggs in a female, depending on the species, ranges from one million to 7 million eggs.

When does mullet spawn in the Black Sea? In the Black Sea, mullet spawns from June to September. After spawning, mullet return to fresh waters to feed, and in the fall they go to sea for the winter.

Growing mullet in aquaculture

Are mullet grown artificially on farms?

Are mullet raised artificially on farms? Mullet has been farmed in the Mediterranean for centuries. Mullet has long been recognized as a very valuable fish. Thanks to the presence of many lagoons, a lagoon farm for growing mullet was created in the Adriatic Sea back in the 16th century. In the Russian Empire, estuaries began to be used for growing mullet starting in the 19th century.

Many species of mullet are of very great commercial importance and are used as breeding objects.
As aquaculture objects, mullet differ in the following characteristics:

• high growth rate,
• valuable meat that is in high demand on the world market,
• they have relatively high plasticity in relation to temperature, gas regime,
• they are euryhaline
• Many species of mullet are highly fertile.
• Most mullet species feed on detritus and fouling - periphyton, so they weakly compete for food with other fish species, so they can be grown in polyculture in ponds and other fishery reservoirs.

In modern conditions, mullet breeding has many technologies that are worth talking about in more detail.

How mullet is grown in the world

In different countries, approximately 10 species of mullet have become objects of mariculture.

In the Middle East, mullet is grown in polyculture together with carp, tilapia, herbivores and other fish species. First, mullet fry are kept in special fry ponds; when they reach a weight of 30-50 grams, they are transplanted into feeding ponds. Mullet is also grown in Africa and Asia.

Scientists spend significant efforts on developing technologies for artificial breeding of mullet from eggs to commercial fish on special fish farms.

Methods for growing mullet in our conditions

It is possible to grow mullet in pasture-based aquaculture. For this purpose, lagoons, estuaries, and fenced-off areas of the sea are used. In estuaries it is possible to grow in polyculture with carp and other fish. The presence of a large number of lagoons, estuaries, bays and bays makes it possible to widely grow mullet in the Mediterranean, in the Azov-Black Sea region and in the Caspian Sea.

The productivity of estuaries can be increased by stocking them with juvenile mullet, artificially reared or juvenile mullet caught in the sea.

In estuaries it is possible to build wintering shelters for mullet in the form of canals or pools, which are covered for the winter with reed mats and other methods. In wintering areas, mullet are fed with larvae, daphnia, cyclops, and also minced meat.

In addition to pasture cultivation of mullet, growing mullet in cages and areas of estuaries fenced off with commercial nets is extremely promising. This increases the survival rate of mullet by 2-3 times compared to the pasture method.

Mullet can be grown in special types of aquaculture, for example in rice paddies.

Mullet wintering-estuary complexes of a two-year cycle - the novelty of technology in the transfer of pasture aquaculture of mullet in estuaries to a two-year cycle, using fast-growing species of mullet. A disadvantage of the technology can be considered the need to catch fingerlings at sea, with subsequent transfer to wintering complexes and then for rearing in estuaries.
Mullet-carp pond farms are based on the rearing of sea-caught juveniles (fingerlings with subsequent wintering in ponds and yearlings) in polyculture with carp and other fish in ordinary fish ponds.
Mullet pond-cage farms specialize in raising broodstock and producing offspring from them under controlled conditions for stocking ponds and other bodies of water.
In temperate climates, mullet farming differs significantly from growing mullet in the tropics, since the Black Sea mullet species cannot withstand a drop in water temperature to 4-5 °C and die. Therefore, an important task for the commercial cultivation of mullet is the organization of their wintering, in particular for fingerlings of the mullet and mullet, which in large flocks approach fresh water outlets on the Black Sea coast, to ports and other deep places, where they die in winter.
Juveniles are caught in the fall in these places or released from the sea, placed in special wintering complexes supplied with artesian waters, which are usually arranged in modules - covered, collapsible multi-sectional pavilions. In the spring, overwintered juvenile mullet are released into estuaries or brackish-water fish ponds for further cultivation to marketable weight.