Development of yellow puffer, Xenopterus naritus embryo and its tetrodotoxin studies

• Main Author: Suhaina Nashath, binti Mohamed Iqbal
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2016
• Subjects: SH Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15447/4/Suhaina%20Nashath%28fulltext%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/15447/

This study was carried out to document the embryonic development and to determine the concentration of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in yellow puffer, Xenopterus naritus from Batang Saribas, Sarawak. Artificial fertilisation was conducted on site for production of embryos. The embryos were pale yellow with diameter size of 1.2 mm and many oil globules were observed. The embryonic development lasted until blastula stage with pH of 7.33, temperature of 27.5°C, salinity of 20 ppt and dissolved oxygen of 4.1±2.3 mg/l. The embryonic development was slow in October due to end of spawning season. Gonadal histology were conducted to study the maturity stages of X. naritus. Ovaries and testes were in immature and early developing stages during off-season period which signified a lower reproduction success in X naritus broodstocks. A total of 10 female and 11 male broodstocks were obtained with total length ranged from 20.7-26.3 cm and 13.6-20.5 cm for females and males respectively. The body weight ranged from 155.34-483.00 g and 71.12-274.05 g for females and males respectively. The mass of gonad and liver ranged from 0.11-1.96 g and 0.93-67.25 g respectively. The concentration of TTX were analysed in Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and Liquid Chromatography- Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The Rf value of TLC in buffer I showed liver and intestine had the nearest Revalue with standard at 0.86 and 0.83 respectively meanwhile for buffer 2 in muscle at 0.38. The highest amount of TTX were in muscle (59.81±4.00 MU/g) while testes the least (8.58 MU/g) when analysed in LC-MS/MS. All the tissues were classified as weakly toxic except for testes as non-toxic. This study is significantly important to study the reproductive strategy in embryos for hatchery seeds production in aquaculture and TTX screening to ensure safe consumption of X. naritus.