Species variability and size structure of rabbitfish caught in around seaweeds culture
Musbir Musbir 1), Najamuddin 2), Muhammad Kurnia 3)

Hasanuddin University

Abstract

One of the economic activities in marine coastal of Bululumba Regency is seaweeds culture. Rabbit fishes (siganus spp) occurrence in seaweeds culture area. The study was conducted from January to April 2022 in the marine coastal waters of Bulukumba regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The purpose of study was to analyze the variability and size structure of rabbitfish caught in the seaweeds culture area. The rabbit fishes were caught by set bottom gillnets with 300 m of length, 2.5 m of depth, and 2.5- 3- and 3.5 inches of mesh sizes. The species of rabbitfishes was identified and total length was measured. Total catch of rabbitfish caught in the seaweeds culture area during 30 trip fishing operation was 421 pieces consist of S.canaliculatus 69.59 %, S.argenteus 20.57 %, and S.guttatus 9.74 %. Size structure was S.canaliculatus ranged 7.2-21 cm. S.argenteus ranged 8.8-28 cm, S.guttatus ranged 12-33 cm. The environmental factors including temperature 28.4-30.5 oC, salinity 38-32 ppt, and current velocity ranged 3.4-8.2 cm/sec were favorable for rabbit fishes fishing ground.

Keywords: rabbitfish, Siganus sp, size structure, seaweed culture, marine coastal.

Topic: Sustainable Fisheries (International)