Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2109.2008.02081.

Cage culture of the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus

vannamei (Boone, 1931) at different stocking densities
in a shallow eutrophic lake

Maria Lourdes A Cuvin-Aralar, Alma G Lazartigue & Emiliano V Aralar

Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD), Binangonan Freshwater Station,
Binangonan, Rizal, Philippines

Correspondence: M L A Cuvin-Aralar, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD),
Binangonan Freshwater Station, Binangonan, 1940 Rizal, Philippines. E-mail: mlcaralar@aqd.seafdec.org.ph

Abstract few years ago, the National Fisheries Research and

Development Institute (NFRDI) imported high health
Postlarvae of Litopenaeus vannamei were acclimated
broodstock from accredited producers of Speci¢c
and stocked in lake-based cages at the following stock-
Pathogen Free/Speci¢c Pathogen Resistant (SPF/
ing densities: 10, 20, 30 and 40 shrimp m  2. Another
SPR) stocks for research purposes. It was only in Jan-
set of shrimp was stocked in concrete tanks as refer-
uary 2007 that the government ban on the culture of
ence samples at 30 shrimp m  2. Signi¢cant di¡er-
this species was lifted in this country, backed by data
ences were observed among stocking densities
obtained from the experimental trials and after a ser-
throughout the 95-day culture. The ¢nal weight at
ies of public consultations and hearings. The culture
harvest decreased with increasing stocking density:
of this introduced species is rapidly expanding in the
mean weights of 23.3, 15.8, 13.0, 10.9 and 14.6 g for the
Philippines, primarily because of its short culture
10, 20, 30, 40 shrimp m  2 and reference tanks were
period due to its fast growth.
observed respectively. There were no signi¢cant di¡er-
Shrimp is traditionally cultured in coastal or
ences in survival throughout the culture period, ran-
estuarine environments. Recently, with the success
ging between 69% and 77%. Daily growth rates
of China and the US in the inland culture of shrimp,
(range: 0.11^0.24 g day  1) and speci¢c growth rates
interest in their culture in low-salinity environments
(range: 3.54^4.34%) also di¡ered signi¢cantly among
has grown. The species of choice for inland shrimp
stocking densities, both increasing with decreasing
culture is the Paci¢c white shrimp L. vannamei be-
stocking density. The feed conversion ratio in the cages
cause it is a euryhaline species that can be found in
did not di¡er among the stocking densities, ranging
1^40 g L  1 salinity waters (Davis, Samochoa & Boyd
from 1.53 to 1.65. The relationship between stocking
2004). A number of studies have looked into the ionic
density and mean individual weight at harvest fol-
concentrations of low-salinity waters as a factor
lowed the equation y 5 81.06x  0.54 (R2 50.938) and
a¡ecting the growth and survival of L. vannamei in
that of stocking density and production (in g m  2) is
culture. Modi¢cations of the freshwater environment
y 5 58.01x  0.46 (R2 50.834).
to di¡erent ionic concentrations of potassium and
magnesium in 4 g L  1 salinity have been conducted
Keywords: Litopenaeus vannamei, freshwater, cage
(Davis, Saoud, McGraw & Rouse 2002; Davis, Boyd &
culture, stocking density, Laguna de Bay, Philippines
Rouse 2005). These studies have shown that the sur-
vival and growth of L. vannamei postlarvae are signif-
icantly improved by the supplementation of
potassium and magnesium in the culture waters.
Introduction
Successful acclimation of L. vannamei to 0.25 g L  1
The Paci¢c white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei was has been carried out (Tomasso, Atwood & Browdy
recently introduced as a species in the Philippines. A 2004).

r 2008 The Authors

Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 181
Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al.
This study was conducted to determine the
growth and survival of L. vannamei cultured in
cages in a shallow eutrophic lake at low to moder-
ate stocking densities and to determine the viabili-
ty of this cage culture technology for adoption in
rural lakeshore ¢sh farming communities. Laguna
de Bay, where the experimental trials were con-
ducted, is the largest inland water body in the Phi-
lippines and widely used for aquaculture of ¢n¢sh
like milk¢sh Chanos chanos, Nile tilapia Oreochro-
mis niloticus, bighead carp Aristichthys nobilis and
African cat¢sh Clarias gariepinus. The lake has a
mean depth of 2.8 m and is classi¢ed as freshwater.
The lake periodically receives saltwater back£ow
from its single river outlet, the 24-km-long Pasig
River, which connects to Manila Bay, which in turn
opens into the South China Sea. Salt-water back-
£ow occurs during years when there is limited
rainfall. The average water residence time in the
lake is 1 year. The study aims to determine the via-
bility of L. vannamei farming in cages as an alterna-
tive to ¢n¢sh culture in the lake. Litopenaeus
vannamei has a higher market value that can con-
siderably improve the livelihood of local ¢sh farm-
ers. Although there have been studies on the
culture of L. vannamei in £oating cages, these were
conducted in an estuarine environment (Paquotte,
Chim, Marin, Lemos, Stern & Tosta 1998) and not in
¢xed lake-based cages in inland waters.
Materials and methods
The experimental trials were conducted at the lake-
based culture facilities of the Binangonan Fresh-
water Station (BFS) of SEAFDEC/AQD in Rizal, Phi-
lippines. High health 11-day-old post-larvae PL of
L. vannamei in 26 g L  1 salinity were obtained from
NFRDI’s National Inland Fisheries Technology Devel-
opment Center (NIFTDC) in Pangasinan Province,
Philippines. This centre produces high health post-
larvae from SPF/SPR broodstock. The PLs were accli-
mated to freshwater using deep well water.
Acclimation was carried out in stages by reducing
salinity to half that of the previous day by dilution of
the saline rearing water with freshwater every morn-
ing until the ¢fth day when the water was changed
fully to freshwater. Deep well water of BFS has a sali-
nity of 0.8 g L  1 and total hardness ranging from 80
to 100 mg L  1. Survival of the freshwater-acclimated
shrimp can be improved by extending the acclima-
tion time from 48 to 72 h according to McGraw and
182 Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187
Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187
Scarpa (2004). Davis et al. (2002) recommended that
PLs younger than PL15 should not be acclimated to
salinities lower than 4 g L  1. It was therefore
decided to prolong the acclimation to 5 days to
further improve the survival of the PLs, by which
time the PLs were already 16 days old at the end of
acclimation. Final survival after acclimation was
88% in our study. The freshwater-acclimated PLs
were nursed for 3 weeks in 5  5  1m hapa net
cages (1mm mesh size) inside concrete tanks sup-
plied with deep well water. The stocking density for
the nursery phase was 80 PLs m  2, fed with a com-
mercially formulated shrimp feed.
After 3 weeks in the nursery, the shrimp (average
weight: 0.376  0.067 g) were stocked in ¢xed experi-
mental hapa net cages (L  W  D: 2.5  1  1m;
1mm mesh size) tied to bamboo poles staked into
the lake substrate within the vicinity of the station.
The cages did not reach the substrate. The following
stocking densities each with four replicates were
used: 10, 20, 30 and 40 shrimp m  2. As a reference
sample, another group of shrimp were stocked in four
replicate 2.5  1  1m outdoor concrete tanks ¢lled
with deep well water at a stocking density of
30 shrimp m  2 (treatment designated as 30-T). Mon-
itoring to determine growth and survival was con-
ducted at 28, 64 and 95 days of culture (DOC). The
shrimp were fed with a commercially formulated
shrimp feed with the following proximate composi-
tion: 35.6% crude protein, 3.5 lipids, 5.9% ¢bre,
45.73% nitrogen-free extract and 11.21% ash. The
shrimp were initially fed at 10% body weight equiva-
lent until 28 DOC, tapering o¡ to 7% until 64 DOC
and 5% until termination of the experiment. Mortal-
ities from stress resulting in total sampling at 28 DOC
were observed. Sampling was modi¢ed to bulk
weighing 10 individuals per cage and counting the
survivors on site to reduce stress-induced mortalities.
Feed ration was adjusted based on sampling data. Ac-
cumulated detritus at the bottom and the sides of the
cages were removed during monthly sampling. No
aeration was provided throughout the experiment,
as this is the typical practice in cage culture in this
lake. Water movement from wind was su⁄cient to
maintain the water quality inside the cages. Water
quality was monitored inside and outside the cages
at 09:00 h thrice a week for the duration of the ex-
periment. A portable Horiba Water Quality Checker
Model U-10 (Horiba, Kyoto, Japan) was used to deter-
mine dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, total dis-
solved solids and salinity. A Secchi disc was used to
determine transparency.
r 2008 The Authors
Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187 Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al.
Table 1 Water quality parameters in the cage culture area and reference tanks
Cage
Parameter Mean  SD
pH 8.85  0.85
Temperature ( 1C) 26.3  0.9
Dissolved oxygen (mg L  1) 7.5  0.8
Total dissolved solids (mg L  1) 685  247
Salinity (g L  1) 0.36  0.08
Secchi disc depth (cm) 52.2  14.3
Water depth (m) 1.0
The variables obtained during the experimental
run were as follows: weight, daily growth rate
(DGR), speci¢c growth rate (SGR), survival, produc-
tion and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Comparison of
the various production parameters and survival
among the di¡erent stocking densities in the cages
and the reference stocks in the concrete tanks at
30 shrimp m  2 were performed. Statistical analysis
of the data was conducted using ANOVA using the gen-
eral linear models procedure of the STATISTICAL ANALY-
SIS SYSTEM (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA) to compare
production parameters for each sampling. Percen-
tage data were arcsin-transformed before statistical
analyses. Duncan’s multiple-range test was used to
distinguish among means, with signi¢cant di¡er-
ences at Po0.05. The ¢nal weight and production at
each stocking density for each replicate were plotted
and ¢tted with a power trendline using the equation
y 5 axb to calculate least-squares ¢t through points,
where y is the weight (g) or production (g m  2), x is
the stocking density and a and b are constants.
Results
Table 1 shows the water quality inside the lake-based
cages during the course of the experiment. There
were relatively high total dissolved solids ranging
from 550 to 1260 mg L  1. Salinity during the culture
period ranged from 0.30 to 0.41g L. 1 The lake was
quite turbid, with a mean Secchi disc depth of
52.2 cm.
Stocking density had a signi¢cant in£uence on the
growth of L. vannamei (Table 2). At harvest, the
shrimp reared at 10 shrimp m  2 reached a mean
weight of 23.3 g, which was signi¢cantly higher than
in the other stocking densities. This was followed by
those reared at 20 shrimp m  2 with 15.8 g. The
shrimp reared at 30 and 40 shrimp m  2 had mean
weights of 13.0 and 10.9 g, respectively, although the
r 2008 The Authors
Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187
Tank
Range Mean  SD Range
7.20–10.90 7.30  0.3 6.70–7.8
24.6–29.8 27.70  2.0 25.9–30.0
5.9–8.8 5.60  1.2 4.8–9.0
550–1260 770  100 303–670
0.30–0.41 0.79  0.10 0.60–1.00
35.0–110 – –
– 1.0 –
di¡erence between them was not signi¢cant. The
shrimp reared as reference samples in tanks had a
slightly higher mean weight of 14.6 g but did not dif-
fer signi¢cantly from those reared in cages at 20 and
30 shrimp m  2.
Signi¢cant di¡erences among treatments were ob-
served in the DGRs as well as in the SGRs as shown in
Table 2. The highest DGR was observed in shrimp in
the 10 shrimp m  2, with a ¢nal mean growth rate of
0.24 g day  1. Progressively lower DGRs were ob-
served as the stocking densities increased, with the
shrimp stocked at 40 shrimp m  2 having only a
mean of 0.11g day  1. By 95 DOC, shrimp cultured in
the reference tanks showed signi¢cantly lower DGR
compared with those in lower stocking densities. No
signi¢cant di¡erences in DGR of the shrimp stocked
at 30 shrimp m  2 in cages (0.13 g day  1) and the re-
ference tanks (0.15 g day  1) were observed.
SGRs decreased with increasing stocking density
(Table 2). The trend followed that of the DGR. SGRs
for all treatments in the cages were the highest in
the ¢rst month of culture, ranging from 8.67% to
10.09%. The highest SGR was in the 10 shrimp m  2,
with a mean of 4.34%, followed by those stocked at
20 shrimp m  2 with 3.93%. Shrimp stocked in cages
at 30 shrimp m  2 showed rates similar to those in
the reference tanks of the same density. The lowest
SGR was observed in the cages with 40 shrimp m  2,
with 3.54%.
Stocking density did not in£uence survival of
shrimp throughout culture. Survival ranged from
69% to 77% after 95 DOC, with no signi¢cant di¡er-
ences among treatments as well as with the reference
stocks in the tanks (Table 2). Production of shrimp in
cages was plotted with the mean weights at each
stocking density as shown in Fig. 1. Production was
expectedly the highest at the highest stocking
density with 300 g m  2. This was followed by 293,
243 and 162 g m  2 for 30, 20 and 10 shrimp m  2
respectively. The relationship between mean
183
Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al. Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187

Table 2 Growth rates, survival and feed conversion ratio (  standard deviation, n 5 4) at various sampling intervals of
Litopenaeus vannamei reared in lake-based experimental cages (10, 20, 30, 40 shrimp m  2) and reference tanks
(30 shrimp m  2(T))

Treatment Daily growth rate, Specific growth Feed conversion

Day (shrimp m  2) Weight (g) DGRw (g day  1) rate, SGR (%)z Survival (%) ratio, FCR

28 10 6.35  0.40a 0.21  0.01a 10.09  0.23a 92.0  8.6 0.16  0.03c
20 5.38  0.24b 0.18  0.01b 9.50  0.16b 91.5  3.0 0.19  0.01b,c
30 4.78  0.14c 0.16  0.01c 9.08  0.11b,c 94.7  2.7 0.20  0.01b,c
40 4.27  0.15d 0.14  0.01d 8.67  0.13c 97.0  0.8 0.23  0.01b
30 (T) 2.95  0.42e 0.09  0.01e 7.32  0.54d 96.4  2.8 0.35  0.06a
P-value 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.3299 0.0001
64 10 18.68  0.91a 0.29  0.01a 6.10  0.08a 86.0  5.2 0.91  0.07c
20 13.45  0.66b 0.20  0.01b 5.59  0.08b 87.0  3.8 1.06  0.12b,c
30 10.78  0.93c 0.16  0.01c 5.24  0.13c 86.7  4.2 1.24  0.11a,b
40 9.45  1.33cd 0.14  0.02c,d 5.03  0.21c,d 81.7  2.1 1.40  0.18a
30 (T) 8.80  1.09d 0.13  0.02d 4.92  0.20d 87.2  11.1 0.95  0.12c
P-value 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.5526 0.0002
95 10 23.25  1.35a 0.24  0.01a 4.34  0.06a 70.0  7.6 1.57  0.05a
20 15.75  0.54b 0.16  0.01b 3.93  0.04b 77.0  4.7 1.54  0.12a
30 13.00  1.41cd 0.13  0.01c,d 3.72  0.12c 75.3  4.1 1.53  0.13a
40 10.88  1.08d 0.11  0.01d 3.54  0.10d 69.0  7.7 1.65  0.16a
30 (T) 14.62  2.49bc 0.15  0.03b,c 3.84  0.20b,c 74.2  11.1 1.14  0.12b
P-value 0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.5154 0.0002

Means of each parameter within each sampling day with di¡erent letter superscripts are signi¢cantly di¡erent at Po0.05 based on
ANOVA.
wDGR, SGR and FCR for each sampling day was computed from Day 0.
zSGR 5100  (lnWt11  lnWt)/(Tt  1  Tt), where lnW 5 natural logarithm of mean individual weight at time t11 or t and T 5 time
(days) t11 or t.

are reports of better (Bray, Lawrence & Leung-Trujillo

Figure 1 Weight and production of Penaeus vannamei
after 96 days of culture at di¡erent stocking densities.
individual weights achieved after 95 DOC and stock-
ing density followed the equation y 5 81.06x  0.54
(R2 50.938), and the relationship between stocking
density and production (in g m  2) is y 5 58.01x  0.46
(R2 50.834).
Discussion
There are mixed reports on the performance of L.
vannamei grown in low and higher salinity. There
1994; Perez-Velasquez, Gonzales-Felix, Jaimes-Busta-
mante, Martinez-Cordova, Trujillo-Villalba & Davis
2007) and poorer (Pan, Zhang & Liu 2007;Yan,Wang
& Cao 2007) growth achieved by L. vannamei reared
in lower salinity waters compared with those reared
in higher salinities. Shrimp grown at 2 g L  1 showed
signi¢cantly better growth than those reared in 35
and 50 g L  1, although the experiment was only for
32 days (Perez-Velasquez et al. 2007). On the other
hand, studies by Ogle, Beaugez and Lotz (1992) re-
ported higher survival in Paci¢c white shrimp reared
in 16 than 2 g L  1 salinity. Similar results were ob-
tained by Yan et al. (2007) in their studies, which
showed lower survival in L. vannamei cultured in
2 g L  1 salinity compared with those reared in sali-
nities of 11, 21 and 31g L  1. These discrepancies in
the performance of L. vannamei have been explained
by Perez-Velasquez et al. (2007) as an e¡ect of the age
of the shrimp at the start of rearing in low-salinity
waters: younger PLs perform poorly, both in terms of
growth and survival, when cultured in low-salinity
waters, while older juveniles perform better in the
same rearing environment. PLs of L. vannamei accli-

r 2008 The Authors

184 Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187
Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187 Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al.
mated at PL15 or older showed better responses to
low salinities down to 1g L  1 (Davis et al. 2002).
Growth in cages of L. vannamei in Laguna de Bay
was comparable to those obtained in other studies.
Litopenaeus vannamei cultured at a salinity range of
9^13 g L  1 for 126 days at 35 shrimp m  2 with simi-
lar initial weights as our studies reached a size range
of 18^20 g with FCR of 1.1^1.4 and DGR of 0.14^
0.16 g day  1 (Amaya, Davis & Rouse 2007). The DGR
obtained in our studies were also comparable to
those obtained by Zelaya, Rouse and Davis (2007),
who reported 0.13^0.15 g day  1 after 112 DOC at
22 g L  1 salinity at a stocking density of
35 shrimp m  2. The survival rates in our study could
have been higher because stress-induced mortalities
from monthly sampling were observed during the
course of the experiment. Nevertheless, survival in
the cage experiments was slightly higher at 69^77%
compared with those reported by Zelaya et al. (2007),
who reported 63^64% survival of L. vannamei at
35 shrimp m  2 after 112 DOC in 22 g L  1. Martinez-
Cordova and Pena-Messina (2005) also obtained much
lower survival after 10 weeks of culture in fertilized
ponds with only 35% for L. vannamei cultured at
30 shrimp m  2.
The lower FCR (1.14) for the shrimp in the refer-
ence tanks in our experiment could be due to the
more e⁄cient utilization of feed probably due to com-
plete access to feeds dispensed compared with possi-
ble losses of feed through the bottom of the net cages.
The relatively good growth and survival of the
shrimp used in our experiment despite the extremely
low salinity may be due to the longer nursery phase
before stocking the juvenile shrimp in the cages. Garza
deYta, Rouse and Davis (2004) suggest that nurseries
improve survival during grow-out and increase size
uniformity at harvest. Zelaya et al. (2007) reported
that shrimp stocked directly to grow-out ponds had
lower weights compared with those that were ¢rst
nursed, although the di¡erences were not statistically
signi¢cant.
The salinity during the duration of the experi-
ments was lower compared with those used in pre-
vious studies using low-salinity waters. Roy, Davis,
Saoud and Henry (2007a) used 4 g L  1 with L. van-
namei until the juvenile stage with the addition of
some ions, and showed that addition of K1 increased
growth and addition of Mg1 signi¢cantly improved
survival but did not a¡ect growth. Green (2008)
reported stocking strategies for grow-out of L. vannamei
in ponds ¢lled with freshwater amended with major
ions such as potassium and magnesium. During the
r 2008 The Authors
Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187
course of his experiments, salinity in the ponds aver-
aged 0.7 g L  1 and shrimp reached mean individual
weights of 20.5, 14.4 and 17.1g after 134 DOC at 7, 13
and 30 shrimp m  2 stocking densities respectively.
These values are comparable with those achieved by
our study after only 95 DOC. Salinity in Laguna de
Bay, speci¢cally in the area where the shrimp were cul-
tured in cages, ranged from 0.30 to 0.41g L  1 and was
slightly lower than those in the ponds used by Green
(2008). The concentrations of ions such as potassium
and magnesium in the rearing water, reported to be im-
portant in low-salinity culture of L. vannamei, should
also be determined before future attempts to culture in
inland waters, similar to those conducted by Saoud,
Davis and Rouse (2003) for inland well waters.
The results obtained in this study show that L. vanna-
mei can be acclimated and reared to a marketable size
(15^20 g) in cages in this lake and opens up the possibi-
lity of culture at moderate stocking densities of this spe-
cies. The choice of stocking densities will depend on the
target size of shrimp at harvest. Survival rates were not
in£uenced by the stocking densities used. Production
in cages obtained from this study at 293^300 g m  2
for those stocked at 30^40 shrimp m  2 for 95 DOC
was slightly lower than those obtained in ponds re-
ported in other studies using amended freshwater en-
vironments at 345^496 g m  2 at stocking densities of
30^39 shrimp m  2 after 125 DOC (Green 2008). In
higher salinity ponds of 15^24.5 ppt stocked at
35 shrimp m  2, production ranged from 352 to
374 g m  2 after a culture period of 112 days (Garza de
Yta et al. 2004). However, mean production from the re-
ference tanks with 30 shrimp m  2 was 384 g m  2
after 95 DOC, which was compared with the results
from the other studies conducted in pond systems by
Green (2008) and Garza de Yta et al. (2004). Our re-
sults show that the culture of the Paci¢c white
shrimp at moderate stocking densities is a viable
alternative for Laguna de Bay. No additional aeration
was needed during the culture period at the densities
used in this study. The relatively short culture period
of L. vannamei means fast turnover rates and the pos-
sibility of three to four croppings per year.
Because modi¢cation of the rearing water by addi-
tion of ions such as potassium and magnesium is
highly impractical and not recommended for lake-
based culture, dietary supplementation of these im-
portant ions may further improve the performance
of L. vannamei for culture in lake-based cages. Diet-
ary modi¢cations may also help in improving the
production of L. vannamei in freshwater by providing
mineral supplementation to feeds used for freshwater
185
Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al.
or low-salinity culture of these shrimp. There are stu-
dies that show that supplementation of minerals es-
sential for osmoregulatory process enhances the
growth and survival of this shrimp (Roy, Davis,
Saoud & Henry 2007b).
Environmental and health management issues on
the culture of L. vannamei in freshwater and low-salinity
waters should also be considered. There are reports of
the presence of introduced L. vannamei in rivers and es-
tuaries inThailand, probably due to escapees from near-
by farms because there is as yet no evidence to conclude
that these shrimp have established themselves in the
wild (Senanan, Tangkrock-olan, Panutrakul, Barnette,
Wongwiwatanawute, Niphonkit & Anderson, 2007).
Moreover, this study involved estuarine and riverine
environments with a mean salinity of 23.17 g L  1.
Thus far, there are no reports of escapees of L. vanna-
mei populations that have established in fresh or very
low-salinity waters. However, a thorough assessment
of the possible ecological impact of the culture of L. van-
namei in cages in inland waters should be conducted
before the results of our experimental trial can be con-
ducted on a commercial scale.
Questions on the susceptibility of L. vannamei
reared in fresh and low-salinity waters to diseases
still need to be investigated. Pan, Jiang & Miao
(2005) tested L. vannamei at salinities between 5 and
30 g L  1. The results show that phenoloxidase, bac-
teriolytic and antibacterial activities returned to con-
trol values within 6 h of exposure to di¡erent
salinities, which is covered by the time frame for the
acclimation of the shrimp to freshwater. The use of
high health stocks of L. vannamei from accredited
sources will minimize the introduction into the cul-
ture environment of devastating diseases.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Mr Federico Reyes for the assis-
tance in the sampling of the shrimp in cages.
References
Amaya E.A., Davis D.A. & Rouse D.B. (2007) Replacement of
¢sh meal in practical diets for Paci¢c white shrimp (Lito-
penaeus vannamei) reared under pond conditions. Aqua-
culture 262, 393^401.
Bray W.A., Lawrence A.L. & Leung-Trujillo J.R. (1994) The
e¡ect of salinity on growth and survival of Penaeus vanna-
mei, with observations on the interaction of IHHN virus
and salinity. Aquaculture 122, 133^146.
186 Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187
Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187
Davis D.A., Saoud I.P., McGraw W.J. & Rouse D.B. (2002)
Considerations for Litopenaeus vannamei reared in inland
low salinity waters. In: Avances en Nutricion Acuicola VI.
Memorias delVI Simposium Internacional de Nutricion Acuico-
la.3 al 6 Septiembre del 2002 (ed. by L.E. Cruz-Suarez, D.
Ricque-Marie, M. Tapia-Salazar, M.G. Gaxiola-Cortes
& N. Simoes), pp. 73–90. Southern Regional
Aquaculture Center, Auburn, Alabama.
Davis D.A., Samochoa T.M. & Boyd C.E. (2004) Acclimating Pa-
ci¢c White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, to Inland, Low-
Salinity Waters. US Department of Agriculture. SRAC
Publication No. 2601, 8pp. http://www.ag.auburn.edu/
davisda/publications/publication__¢les/ca19__sina__vi.pdf
Davis D.A., Boyd C.E. & Rouse D.B. (2005) E¡ects of potas-
sium, magnesium and age on growth and survival of Li-
topenaeus vannamei post larvae reared in inland low
salinity well waters in West Alabama. Journal of theWorld
Aquaculture Society 36, 416^419.
Garza DeYta A., Rouse D.B. & Davis D.A. (2004) In£uence of
nursery period on the growth and survival of Litopenaeus
vannamei under pond production conditions. Journal of
the World Aquaculture Society 35, 357^367.
Green B. (2008) Stocking strategies for production of Litope-
naeus vannamei (Boone) in amended freshwater in inland
ponds. Aquaculture Research 39, 10^17.
Martinez-Cordova L.R. & Pena-Messina E. (2005) Biotic
communities and feeding habits of Litopenaeus vannamei
(Boone 1931) and Litopenaeus stylirostris (Stimpson 1974)
in monoculture and polyculture semi-intensive ponds.
Aquaculture Research 36,1075^1084.
McGraw W.J. & Scarpa J. (2004) Mortality of freshwater-ac-
climated Litopenaeus vannamei associated with acclima-
tion rate, habituation period, and ionic challenge.
Aquaculture 236, 285^296.
Ogle J.T., Beaugez K. & Lotz J.M. (1992) E¡ects of salinity on
the growth and survival of Penaeus vannamei. Gulf Re-
search Reports 8, 415^421.
Pan L.-Q., Jiang L.-X. & Miao J.-J. (2005) E¡ects of salinity and
pH on immune parameters of white shrimp Litopenaeus
vannamei. Journal of Shell¢sh Research 24,1223^1227.
Pan L.-Q., Zhang L.-J. & Liu H.-Y. (2007) E¡ects of salinity
and pH on ion-transport enzume activities, survival and
growth of Litopenaeus vannamei postlarvae. Aquaculture
273,711^720.
Paquotte P., Chim L., Marin J.-L.M., Lemos E., Stern M. & Tos-
ta G. (1998) Intensive culture of shrimp Penaeus vannamei
in £oating cages: zootechnical, economic and environ-
mental aspects. Aquaculture 164, 151^166.
Perez-Velasquez M., Gonzales-Felix M.L., Jaimes-Busta-
mante F., Martinez-Cordova L.R., Trujillo-Villalba D.A. &
Davis D.A. (2007) Investigation of the e¡ects of salinity
and dietary protein level on growth and survival of Paci-
¢c white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Journal of the
World Aquaculture Society 38, 475^485.
Roy L.A., Davis D.A., Saoud I.P. & Henry R.P. (2007a) E¡ects
of varying levels of aqueous potassium and magnesium
r 2008 The Authors
Aquaculture Research, 2009, 40, 181^187 Culture of Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater lake M L A Cuvin-Aralar et al.

on survival, growth, and respiration of the Paci¢c white
shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, reared in low salinity
waters. Aquaculture 262, 461^469.
Roy L.A., Davis D.A., Saoud I.P. & Henry R.P. (2007b)
Supplementation of potassium, magnesium and sodium
chloride in practical diets for the Paci¢c white shrimp,
Litopenaeus vannamei, reared in low salinity waters.
Aquaculture Nutrition 13, 104^113.
Saoud I.P., Davis D.A. & Rouse D.B. (2003) Suitability of in-
land well waters for Litopenaeus vannamei culture. Aqua-
culture 217, 373^383.
Senanan W., Tankrock-olan N., Panutrakul S., Barnette P.,
Wongwiwatanawute C., Niphonkit N. & Anderson D.J.
(2007) The presence of Paci¢c whiteleg shrimp
(Litopenaeus vannamei, Boone, 1931) in the wild in
Thailand. Journal of Shell¢sh Research 26, 1187^1192.
Tomasso J., Atwood H. & Browdy C. (2004) Physiolo-
gical challenges of culturing Litopenaeus vannamei in
water containing low concentrations of dissolved solids.
US Marine Shrimp Farming Program Industry Briefs 10,
1^7.
Yan B.,Wang X. & Cao M. (2007) E¡ects of salinityand tempera-
ture on survival, growth and energy budget of juvenile Lito-
penaeus vannamei. Journal of Shell¢sh Research 26,141^146.
Zelaya O., Rouse D.B. & Davis D.A. (2007) Growout of Paci¢c
white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, stocked into produc-
tion ponds at three di¡erent ages. Journal of the World
Aquaculture Society 38, 92^101.

r 2008 The Authors

Journal Compilation r 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Aquaculture Research, 40, 181^187 187