Success in artificial insemination to breed Datina fish

Bangladesh has achieved success in breeding the spawn of Datina fish, a delicious marine fish, through artificial insemination with hormone treatment.

Scientists of Khulna's Paikgacha Brackishwater Station of the Bangladesh Fish Research Institute (BFRI), led by its chief scientific officer Dr Md Lutiful Islam, saw this success at the very beginning of this year.

Mizanur Rahman, scientific officer of the centre, said although research on the feed and egg-laying capacity of the datina has been conducted before in one or two countries, none had been conducted on datina breeding through artificial insemination.  

"The first-ever success in datina fish breeding is a proud moment for Bangladesh," he said.  

Lutiful Islam also said, "The winter season [December-January] is the peak breeding season of datina. We produced spawn at a hatchery in the research centre through hormone treatment, after collecting some mature fish from the pond where they were reared. The spawn of the sada datina [whose scientific name is Pomadasys hasta] is now 17 days old."

"In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the centre collected datina spawn from the River Shibsha for research. The spawn was reared in a pond at the centre, by getting it accustomed to conventional floating feed. It becomes fertile

only when it weighs 200 to 400 grammes, at the age of two years," said senior scientific officer Debashish Mandol. 

Three varieties of datina fish are found in coastal areas. The BFRI has already been able to produce spawn from 24 species of local and near-extinct varieties of fish through induced breeding. The Live Gene Bank of Fish has also been set up there.

Earlier, scientists at the centre were able to produce fries of crab, parshe and tengra fish.

The centre has been conducting research on different issues, including lobster fry production through captive breeding, developing scientific methods for lobster farming, identifying the natural sources of lobster, and researching the adverse impacts on natural biodiversity from spawn collection.

Paikgacha Upazila Nirbahi Officer ABM Khaled Hossian Siddiqui visited the centre on Friday and lauded its scientists for their success in producing datina spawn.

Chief Scientific Officer and Head of the Brackishwater Station Dr Md Latiful Islam, Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Pabitra Kumar Das, Senior Scientific Officer Debashish Mondal, scientific officers Mizanur Rahman and Shaon Ahmed, plus Paikgacha Police Station Officer-in-Charge (Investigation) Ashraful Alam were present at that time.