Effects of salinity fluctuation in different ranges on the intermolt period and growth of juvenile Fenneropenaeus chinensis

1 Introduction Salinity is an important environmental parameter affecting the growth of the crustaceans, and the toler- ance to salinity varies with species and growth periods. Marsupenaeus japonicus is sensitive to salinity fluctua- tion, and abrupt decrease in salinity can result in high mortality (Chen and Bian, 1994). As reported by Dall (1981), tolerance of the juvenile Metapenaeus bennet- tae, Penaeus esculentus and Fenneropenaeus mer- guiensis to salinity fluctuation is not as strong …