Date: 6 Jan 1998
From: Dena Wiseman <dena@morgan.ucs.mun.ca>
To: l aqua <AQUA-L@killick.ifmt.nf.ca>
QUESTION:
Does anyone out there have any experience or know of any work done on cryopreservation of fish eggs?
I am interested in storing eggs (2.5 - 3.0 mm) so they can be fertilized
and incubated at a later time. Is it possible to fertilize and then freeze them?
Dena Wiseman
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COMMENTS 1:
I am working on cryopreservation of invertebrate gametes, embryos
and larvae of aquaculture interest. I am afraid that nobody has published any paper on successful cryopreservation of fish eggs or embryos so far. This is still a big challenge for cryobiologists.
However I am not sure whether there are patents out there. I heard
there was a company in Canada, maybe called "Aquaculture Invention", selling cryopreserved embryos for aquaculture. Anybody can tell me how to contact them?
Wen Bo Wang, <W.B.Wang@newcastle.ac.uk>
Dept of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU, UK
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COMMENTS 2:
Check with Dr. Craig Sullivan at NC State University
Skip Kemp <skemp@coastalnet.com>
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COMMENTS 3:
I believe you may be referring to Innovative Aquaculture Products. They are selling cryopreserved oyster embryos as a larval feed. The embryos survive long enough to act as a feed, but they don't survive much longer than that.
Other than that, you are correct that no-one has reported successful
cryopreservation of fish eggs or embryos (to my knowledge anyway).
Mike Christensen, <mchris@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu>
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COMMENTS 4:
Eggs can of course be kept for short periods in the fridge, however for
long term storage gametes must be cooled to below the glass transition temperature of -130 deg C, which is why we generally store sperm in LN (-196deg C)
There have been a few reports of successful recovery of fish embryos from liquid nitrogen (ie Zhang, T., Rawson, D., and Morris, G.J. (1989) Study on the cryopreservation of common carp embryos Cryo-lett, 10 :271-278., Leung, K.P. and Jamieson,B.J.M. (1991). Live preservation of fish gametes. Fish Evolution and systematics : Evidence from spermatozoa. B.J.M Jamieson (Ed) pp 245-269, Cambridge University Press.).
However, I do not know of a reproducible cryopreservation protocol for either eggs or embryos of any fish species (if anyone has seen one
published I would really like a copy ! ).
It may be worth contacting Krishan Rana, (ex University of Stirling) now FAO Rome; he was working in cryopreservation at Stirling back around 1990 and had a PhD student, M.Adam, working on fish eggs and embryos.
Craig Lawrence
Research Scientist (Aquaculture)
Fisheries Western Australia
Fisheries Research Division
WA Marine Research Laboratories
Ph +61 9 246 8461 Fax +61 9 447 3062
Email clawrence@fish.wa.gov.au
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COMMENTS 5:
Dr. Mary McNiven at the Atlantic Veterinary College is actively working on cryopreserving fish eggs. You may wish to contact her at mcniven@upei.ca.
Dr. John F. Burka
Department of Anatomy and Physiology
Atlantic Veterinary College
University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Avenue
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
C1A 4P3
CANADA
InterNet: BURKA@UPEI.CA
Phone: (902) 566-0810
FAX: (902) 566-0832
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COMMENTS 6:
Regarding the cryopreservation of eggs, you might contact Cliff Goudey at MIT Sea Grant Program. I don't have his number with me but you can get it from the National Office @301-713-2451. Cliff et al. are just beginning a project funded through the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture Aquaculture Grants Program that will include examination of cryopreservation techniques for haddock eggs.
Scott Sjsoares <Sjsoares@aol.com>