The seahorse has been used extensively in Asia as a traditional medicine whose functions may be enhance energy and fatigue resistance. The effects of hot water extracts from cultured seahorse Spatiotemporal Variations of Abundance and Species Compositions of Larval Fish in Tapeng BayHung-Yen Hsieh1, Yi-Tien Su1, Wen-Tseng Lo2* and Long-Jing Wu11Coastal and Offshore Resource Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute2Institute of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-Sen UniversityABSTRACTThe objectives of this study were to investigate the species composition and distribution of larval fish in relation to water temperature, salinity and chlorophyll a in Tapeng Bay. There were 31 identified species of the larval fish that belonged to 29 genera and 16 families with the mean numerical abundance of 22.9 ± 40.7 ind./100m3 from June 1999 to December 2001. The seasonal change in numerical abundance of the larval fish was not coincident interannually. The six most dominant taxa were Omobranchus sp., Tridentiger obscurus, Pterogobius zonoleucus, blenniid sp., gobiid sp., and Entomacrodus lighti, with occupied 92% of the total abundance. Among these, the first two dominant taxa, Omobranchus sp. and T. obscurus contributed to 80% of the total count. In linear regression analysis, there was no significantly different between environmental factors and abundance, excepting a positive relation between Omobranchus sp. and water temperature (p < 0.01). In addition, the ANOVA test was showed that there was no significantly different between abundance and months and stations.Hippocampus kuda and wild seahorse H. enrinace on antifatigue and immune were compared. Two kinds of extracts were separately fed to mice for six weeks. The duration of swimming time, serum lactate, creatine kinase, blood urea nitrogen, spleen cells proliferation, lymphocyte subpopulation of spleen cells, natural killer cell activity and phagocyte activity on forced swimming stressed mice were analyzed. Both extracts significantly extended the swimming time and reduced creatine kinase and blood urea nitrogen in plasma. The spleen cells proliferation, lymphocyte subpopulation of spleen cells, natural killer cell activity and phagocyte activity of two extracts were no significantly different from control. Therefore, it suggested that the two extracts might have an effect on the antifatigue action.