Perna canaliculus culture

From: "Bryan Gimlett" <bryan_gimlett@hotmail.com>
To: AQUA-L@killick.ifmt.nf.ca
Date: 23 Jan 2001

QUESTION:

Are there published methods for the spawning and culture of mussels?

Bryan Gimlett

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COMMENTS 1 :

You can use standard bivalve rearing techniques to rear mussel larvae. We reared Perna viridis in Thailand and set them on bamboo strips, but you can set them on rope. Spawning was induced by hydrogen peroxide, but in temperate zone mussels, a temperature shock can be used and there is always serotonin. I suggest you consult Aquatic Science and Fisheries Abstracts where you will find many references on this topic.

Charles
E-mail: clangell@eskimo.com

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COMMENTS 2:

The original paper was by Morse in which he used hydrogen peroxide for spawning abalone. As I recall there were several papers after that
describing its use for bivalves. Unfortunately I don't have the references available any longer. I'm sure you can find them in ASFA.

Here's what we did to induce spawning in Perna viridis.

First we did some trials to find the best concentration of hydrogen
peroxide. We tested 75, 150 and 300 ppm. The lowest concentration did not produce any results.

1. Raise the pH of the aerated holding basin to 9.1 by addition of 10%
sodium hydroxide.
2. Use reagent grade hydrogen peroxide to make a 150 ppm concentration in the holding basin.
3. We held the mussels for 8 hours in the holding basin, but you probably have to try different periods of time. Don't let the mussels spawn in the holding basin.
4. Place the mussels in running seawater. Mature animals will spawn in 1 to 4 hours.
5. Eggs are then handled in standard fashion.

If you can get serotonin, it is much faster. A solution of 2.0 mM/l
crystalline serotonin is injected into the gonad or adductor mussel. The
animal is left out of water for 5 minutes. After immersion, spawning
occurs within a few minutes. The gonad will be more or less emptied, so if you have a partially mature specimen, you will get a high proportion of non-viable eggs, but at least you will usually get some eggs to work with.

Charles
E-mail: clangell@eskimo.com

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