Efficacy of Common Carp and Nile Tilapia as Biocontrol Agents of the Golden Apple Snail in the Philippines
Matthias Halwart1, James A. Litsinger 2, M.C. Viray 3, and Giselher Kaule 4
1Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Aquaculture Service,
Food and Agricultural Organization, Viadelle Terme Di Caracalla, Rome, Italy
2Jacobs Place, Dixon, California, USA
3Freshwater Aquaculture Center, Central Luzon State University,
Muños, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
4Institute of Landscape Planning and Ecology, University of Stuttgart,
Keplersrasse, Stuttgart, Germany
corresponding author:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABSTRACT
Common carp Cyprinus carpio (L.) and Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) were evaluated in the Philippines in replicated field plot trials as biocontrol agents of the golden apple snail (GAS) Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck) in rice-fish culture. Carp are more adapted to consume snails than tilapia by possessing pharyngeal jaws and they frequent the benthos where more GAS reside. GAS densities at rice harvest were lowest in paddies stocked with carp irrespective of stocking density (0.5 or 1 fish/m2), and the predation rate rose more to increased snail infestation levels than was the case with tilapia. Even as a less effective predator, Nile tilapia significantly reduced snail numbers compared to the no-fish control particularly in the dry season and at the higher fish stocking density. Measuring the sizes of surviving snails showed that both fish species could not prevent larger snails from occurring. By allowing larger snails to survive, biocontrol with these two species of fish needs to be supplemented by hand removal or screens on inlets.
INTRODUCTION
The golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck) (GAS) was purposely introduced into Asia (Taiwan in 1979) for food production as well as for aquarium trade (Mochida 1991) and the species reached the Philippines in 1982. As GAS is a polyphagous herbivore (Basilio & Litsinger 1988), it was easily bred. Indigenous to South America, GAS is highly adaptive, ranging from temperate Argentina to the tropical Amazon basin (Cowie 2002). GAS matures in 2-7 months and can live 4 years (Mochida 1991). It readily adapted to life in alternating wet and dry habitats such as seasonal swamps and rice fields as the mantle cavity possesses both a gill (ctenidium) and a portion modified as a pulmonary habitats.. . . . . . . . . . .
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