Moara grouper finally cultured in large quantities IN JAPAN
November 19, 2001
http://www.fis.com/
The National
Fish Farm Centre at the Kamiura laboratory in Ohita
prefecture has so far this year successfully bred over 400,000 moara
grouper.
Last year, only 10,000 specimens of the species that is regarded as
high-class in the country were bred.
This year's success is attributed to measures taken not to lose the fry
before they grew to 5mm, along with protective measures to combat various
diseases.
The centre originally launched its research and technology
development to farm the species during 1990, and three years later it
succeeded in cultivating 6,000 items for the first time.
However, following this success, it was difficult to maintain a stable
production of a large quantity of specimens, as the fry are minuscule when
hatched, roughly 1.7mm, and they succumbed to viral nerve necrosis.
To farm the fertilised roe with a smaller amount of the virus, several
reform measures were attempted, especially in incubation techniques and the
water's temperature that needed to be maintained at 26°C. The density of
feed provided after the hatching was also increased along with controlling
the fluctuation in water quality.
Due to all these changes, approximately 423,000 fry of an average size of
25.5mm were produced by the beginning of this month.
Moara grouper tends to die at an early stage compared with other
species, therefore more effective technology is still being developed
at the centre.
By Haruo Chiba
FIS Japan
(from
Aquaculture Info List, e-mail: dave.conley@sympatico.ca)