The knowledge of salinity tolerance is essential for aquaculture production in different water sources, as well as for stocking enhancement programs. In the present experiment, salinity tolerance was investigated in laboratory reared juveniles of the fat snook Centropomus parallelus. Fish of 52 days (22.0 mm ± 0.4: mean total length ± SEM), 59 days (22.6 mm ± 0.5) and 73 days (25.8 mm ± 0.5) after hatching (DAH) were directly transferred from 35 to 0, 5, 15 and 35 ppt. Survival was checked every 24 h during a 96-h period. The experiment was carried out with fed (for all salinities) and unfed individuals (except for 5 ppt). Direct transfer resulted in less than 40% mortality in all treatments and ages tested. At the same salinity level, no difference in survival rates was found between fed and unfed juveniles, at the different ages and exposure time tested. Juveniles of 52 DAH presented lower tolerance to 0 ppt compared to other salinities. In older juveniles (59 and 73 DAH), mortality after 96 h was very low ( > 95% survival), regardless the salinity treatment or feeding condition. Therefore, the present study showed that juveniles of 52 DAH are less tolerant to abrupt transfer to freshwater, indicating that a salinity acclimation procedure prior to release in freshwater areas would be necessary, and that tolerance increased with increasing age.
salinity tolerance; fat snook; Centropomus parallelus; juveniles