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Assessment of artificial substrates for collection of hatchery-reared silver-lip pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima, Jameson) spat

1998; Elsevier BV; Volume: 162; Issue: 3-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0044-8486(98)00213-0

1873-5622

Joseph J. Taylor, Paul C. Southgate, Robert A. Rose,

Cephalopods and Marine Biology

This paper reports on three experiments in which artificial substrates were assessed for the collection of hatchery-reared silver-lip (or gold-lip) pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima (Jameson), spat. In the first experiment, pediveliger larvae were settled onto collectors made from a variety of materials: curved PVC slats; polypropylene rope; a combination of PVC slats and polypropylene rope; and monofilament nylon. After 37 days, the rope and the combined PVC slat and rope collectors had significantly higher numbers of spat (P<0.05) than either nylon or PVC slat collectors. In a second experiment, PVC slat collectors were placed in a larval settlement tank in either a horizontal or vertical orientation. Significantly greater numbers of spat (P<0.001) were observed on horizontally positioned PVC slat collectors than on collectors positioned vertically. Regardless of orientation, the concave surface of PVC slats had significantly higher (P<0.001) numbers of spat than the convex surface. In the third experiment, collection of P. maxima spat was compared between PVC slats with or without an epifloral biofilm. Significantly more (P<0.001) spat attached to PVC slats with a biofilm than clean PVC slats. These results indicate that the choice of collector material, the surface orientation of collectors and method of collector preparation can optimise the collection of hatchery-reared P. maxima spat.