Benjamin C. Young1,2 and Ali AL Shaikhi1
1 National Fisheries Development Program, Ministry of Environment, Water & Agriculture, Riyadh 11195, Saudi Arabia
2 Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund, Taipei 11047, Taiwan
Young, B. C. & Shaikhi, A. Al. (2024). Meagre (Argyrosomus regius) culture in high salinity conditions. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 30(5), 883–887
Diversifying aquaculture in Saudi Arabia with finfish species formerly reared in the Mediterranean Sea requires a sufficient understanding of the preferences and limits of cultured fishes under local conditions. We conducted experiments in triplicate on 41 meagre (Argyrosomus regius) juveniles of 116 g in Saudi Arabia, testing four locally available commercial feeds (42.2–48.1% crude protein, 11.8–19.9% crude fat) for 79 days to determine the growth performance of fish in local high salinity (42–45‰) and 27°C conditions. The average final weight, specific growth rate, and feed conversion ratio differed significantly among treatments. The trial achieved a feed conversion ratio of 1.09–1.52 and a specific growth rate of 1.00–1.40. The growth performance appeared to be in line with related research. We anticipate that improvement of nutritional characteristics of the feed will improve the performance of the fish. Our results indicate the feasibility of successfully rearing meagre under high salinity conditions.