April 3, 2025         

Philippines-based SEAFDEC looks into using snail-supplemented feed for snubnose pampano

An aquaculture research center operated by Tigbauan, Philippines-based South Eastern Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) is conducting a study which could help develop a cost effective – and natural – feed for snubnose pompano.

In a Facebook post about the research, SEAFDEC said that the species is a "favorite among fish farmers due to its ease of farming," but expensive to feed.

After noticing a large amount of a local snail in a research pond, SEAFDEC aquaculture researcher Edgar Somblingo theorised that the snail, which is considered a pest, could be fed to pompano, which eat mollusks in the wild. He designed an experiment to compare a snail-supplemented commercial pompano feed with a standard commercial feed. The research is currently ongoing.

SEAFDEC speculated that the research, if successful, could aid farmers. Snail supplementation in commercial feed "could cut down the cost of pompano feeding, even potentially lowering the market price of the fish."

If it proves effective, the solution could naturally eliminate a pest which aquaculture producers in Southeast Asia are currently treating with chemicals like molluscicides.

According to the organisation's website, pompano is an easily farmed species that "can adapt easily to captive conditions in ponds and cages" and which is known to be adaptable to commercial feed and easily domesticated.

- SeafoodSource