Bangladesh J. Fish. (2022) 34(2): 199-208 https://doi.org/10.52168/bjf.2022.34.20 Comparative quality assessment of wild and hatchery-produced black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) post-larvae in pre-stocking nursing condition ANTAR SARKAR, SAIFUDDIN RANA AND SK. AHMAD-AL-NAHID* Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Khulshi-4225, Chattogram, Bangladesh *Corresponding author’s e-mail: nahid83bau@gmail.com Abstract. Farmers of Bangladesh like to stock wild post-larvae (PL) of Black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). However, wild PL collection is detrimental to aquatic biodiversity, and the supply of hatchery PL is sufficient. The study was conducted in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, to compare the quality aspects of wild and hatchery PL in terms of size variation, survival, tolerance, and morphology. The study had one month duration and consisted of treatment 1 (T1, wild PL) and treatment 2 (T2, hatchery PL) with three replications. Two stocks named C1 (wild PL) and C2 (hatchery PL) were maintained to measure the size variation and stress tolerance. Stocking density was 5 PL/liter; feeding rate was 90 Artemia nauplii/shrimp PL/day. Temperature, salinity, and pH were maintained at 27.6±1.3 0 C, 25.2±0.9 ppt, and 7.9±0.2. The findings showeda greater size range (PL 1 to PL ≥ 15) in C1 than C2 (PL9 to PL15); more tolerance of wild PL than hatchery PL inthe salinity stress test, and morphologically excellent quality PL of 88.8% (T1) and 88.7% (T2). Other findings included mean growth of 10.16±1.3 mm (T1) and 9.67±0.4 mm (T2), the specific growth rate for length/day of 2.25% (T1) and 1.95% (T2), and final survival of 78% for both T1 and T2. These findings can contribute to identifying the quality issues in shrimp PL production and reduce the negative impacts of wild PL collection on coastal and marine fisheries. Keywords: Penaeus monodon, Shrimp post larvae, Shrimp nursing Introduction Giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) is a marine crustacean of the Penaeid family. It is one of the most commercially-cultured species in the world (FAO 2016). It is considered the white gold of Bangladesh for its economic role from export earnings. In 2019-20, shrimp production was 2,41,281 metric tons (MT) and export value was 1,988.56 core BDT (DoF 2020). The supply of quality post-larvae (PL) is the prerequisite of shrimp production (Arnold et al. 2009). There are two sources of shrimp PL supply for aquaculture; harvesting wild PL and hatchery production (Hossain and Hasan 2017).There are 43 registered private shrimp hatcheries in Bangladesh with 792.952 crores shrimp PL production in 2019-20 (DoF 2020). Wild PLcollection rate is significant although the hatchery-produced shrimp PLs are available (Ahamed et al. 2012). About 2 billion wild PLs are collected annually from the coastal areas of Bangladesh (Banks 2003). There are many challenges of PL production and supply from hatcheries. The most significant challenge is maintaining the quality. Farmers usually prefer to stock wild PL to hatchery PL because they perceive that wild PLs have better survival and good local availability on-demand (Ahmed et al. 2005). Wild PL collection negatively impacts the stock, ecology, and biodiversity of coastal and marine fishes and other aquatic species. During PL collection, several other finfish, shellfish, and aquatic species entangle to the net in larval or juvenile stages (Ahamed et al. 2012). For collecting single shrimp PL, collectors discard about 99 finfish and other species of shrimps (Rashid, 2000). Indiscriminate wild PL collection hampers the existence of endangered and threatened species. It