Welcome to "Fish eggs and larvae from Asian mangrove waters"

Author: M.J. Prince Jeyaseelan

The highly productive mangrove waters of the tropics and sub-tropics serve as a nursery ground for many marine fish, crustacean and mollusc species, many of them of great economic importance and nutritional value.

To understand correctly the role played by the mangroves as a nursery ground for fish, one should be able to identify the early developmental stages. Scientific studies along these lines are limited, probably due to the inherent difficulty in sampling in such marshy environments. The fast rate of destruction of the mangroves has also contributed to overlooking their great ecological importance and the key role that they play in coastal fisheries. The lacuna has been sorely felt by all concerned with mangrove ecosystems and the management of the coastal zone at large; it is a serious handicap for those engaged in fisheries studies and in the assessment of recruitment of juveniles to the wild or capture stock of species of economic importance, as well as in the assessment of all studies related to the behaviour of fish populations.

This program covers the early developmental stages of fish from three geographic areas: South Indian, Thailand and the Philippines. Altogether 77 species are given in the program. Only the early stages occurring frequently in mangrove waters are chosen for description. Where many stages of a species are found in mangroves, a figure to represent a typical stage is given while the description covers the characteristic features of many stages. This should suffice for the identification of early developmental stages of mangrove fish.

We hope that this program will serve as a basic document in understanding the significance of the mangroves in supporting the coastal fisheries resources. The early developmental stages of many commercially important marine fish species which use the mangroves as a nursery ground are the first victims of unwise coastal management and of the destruction of mangroves as a habitat. Capture and captive fisheries and the wild stock populations are the final victims, together with the human population that depends upon fisheries as a livelihood.

Title: Fish eggs and larvae from Asian mangrove waters
Author: M.J. Prince Jeyaseelan
Year of publication: 2000
ISBN: 3-540-14671-7

This electronic version is adapted from UNESCO Publication:

Title: Manual of fish eggs and larvae from Asian mangrove waters
Author: M.J. Prince Jeyaseelan
Year of publication: 1998
Copyright: UNESCO Publishing, Paris
ISBN: 92-3-103449-9