Natural Production of Artemia in the Evaporation Ponds of a Water Treatment Plant in Saudi Arabia

Live food such as Artemia is considered to be an essential part of many crustacean and finfish hatcheries. The natural occurrence of the brine shrimp Artemia is reported for the first time in highly saline evaporation ponds of the water treatment plant at Al-Qassim Research Station of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Saudi Arabia. The evaporation pond produced, during a 3-month period, more than 37 kg of Artemia cysts /3600 m^2 (wet weight). The highest biomass production (over 19 and 7 kg of wet and dry cysts/3600 m^2, respectively) was collected on March. The hatching percentage decreased gradually throughout the trials and ranged from 73.4%-87.3%. The water quality of the ponds is also discussed in relation to the occurrence of Artemia.