Abstract
Artemia is a small crustacean living in saltwater. It is a valuable food for fish and crustaceans
larvae. Given its importance in the field of larval culture, this study aims to explore the
culture and reproduction of Artemia, working on the population of El Bahira lake (Setif
province, Algeria). The average diameter of hydrated cysts is 208.79 ± 0.02 µm and of
decapsulated cysts is 197.61 ± 0.02 µm with a chorion of 10.38 µm thick. The cysts give
nauplii with an average length of 385.25 ± 42.15 μm with a hatching rate of 34% and a
hatching efficiency of 10890 nauplii /g of cysts. The final survival rate of individuals during
culture is 74.13% with a growth rate for adult Artemia individuals of 0.31 mm/day. The
Artemia of El Bahira lake is capable of reproducing by parthenogenesis and ovoviviparity
with a number of offspring produced per female of 3 to 54 nauplii and an average of 14.16
nauplii/female. The results obtained show that Artemia from El Bahira lake has good
aquaculture potential.
Keywords Growth; Crustacean; Hatching; Larvae; Reproduction.