Short Notes of Fish Larvae from Samunsam River, Sarawak

• Main Authors: Mohd Nasarudin, Harith, Muhammad Iqbal Razin, Mohamad Idris, Nazri, Latib, Mohamad Norazlan, Bujang Belly
• Other Authors: Siti Akmar Khadijah, Ab Rahim
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: UNIMAS Publisher 2024
• Subjects: SH Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/45527/1/Short%20Notes.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/45527/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Fish larvae studies are important to fisheries management as they provide information that might aid fisheries management and can contribute in predicting fish stocks recruitment. Plus, the composition can also serve as an indicator for the health status of aquatic environment. There is not much of information about fish larvae composition in Sarawak freshwater especially from Sarawak’s state sanctuaries. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the composition of fish larvae of Samunsam River which is located within Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary - the oldest wildlife sanctuary in Sarawak. Samples were collected from ten stations using ring plankton net (0.5 mm mesh size) and towed horizontally by a boat. A total of 8,191 fish larvae which belongs to 15 families were identified, namely Ambassidae, Apogonidae, Bagridae, Belonidae, Clupeidae, Cyprinidae, Engraulidae, Gerridae, Gobiidae, Haemulidae, Hemiramphidae, Muraenidae, Phallostethidae, Serranidae and Tetraodontidae. Family Phallostethidae showed the highest number of catch mostly from upstream stations. These baseline data are hoped to be useful for future management of Samunsam River.