1. Scientific name: Mugil cephalus 2. Common name: Striped mullet 3. Distribution     The mullet distributes throughout the world, mostly inhabiting the trophic and subtrophic areas.

4. Ecology

    The global species has a spawning migration. Larvae are migrating up to freshwater area where they spend their juvenile life. The fish, at size 25cm, migrate to coastal waters. The fish feed on small fish, squids, crustaceans, etc. The fish are growing fast, reaching 25cm in total length in a year.

5. Aquaculture

   Healthy ripe males and females, weighing 1.5¡­4.0 Kg for female and 0.7¡­2.5 Kg for female, are selected. Eggs and sperm are obtained separately by squeezing each gonad of the adult fish, and fertilization is performed by dry method. The fertilized eggs are contained in the hatching chamber at density of 100¡­200/L. The eggs hatch in 40¡­50 hrs. at water temperature 22.2 ¡­24.5¡É, salinity 32.5 psu, and illumination 1,000¡­2,000 lux.
The larvae are cultured in 20¡­30 ton with initial culture densities 2¡­3x10³/m³. The culture density decreases with the culture progress, 4¡­5x10³/§© at larval size 1¡­2cm in body length and 1¡­2x10³/§© at larval sizes over 3cm in body length. The just hatched larvae are maintained without water exchange for 10 days only with gentle aeration. The green water from Chlorella sp. of 500x10³cells/mL is preferred. During the larval culture the culture tanks are illuminated at 2,000¡­5,000Lux.
The hatched larvae start to feed from 2 days after hatching. Therefore, rotifers at density 10¡­15/ml should be maintained in the green water. Artificial diet should be supplied from day 15 after hatching. Under normal culture scheme, the larvae can reach 41.61mm in body length 50 days after hatching.

The procedure for the seed production of the mullet in the hatchery