Artificial incubation of
Japanese crayfish (Cambaroides japonicus) eggs by using a simple,
easy method with a microplate
K. Nakata, H. Matsubara, S. Goshima-2004
Aquaculture, 230(1-4): 273-279
Abstract:
We developed a simple, easy method with a microplate
to artificially incubate Japanese crayfish (Cambaroides japonicus)
eggs for their cultivation. We prepared 6-, 12-, 24-, 48-, and 96-well
microplates containing sterile water heated to 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C.
Fourteen experimental groups for each water temperature were prepared for
each of different water volumes (0.125–10 ml) in each well. One embryonic
egg was placed in each well. Experiments were also conducted with water
collected from the lake where the eggs were harvested from and held at 15 °C.
In the microplates with sterile water, high proportions of eggs hatched
(60–100%) at 15 °C in all volumes of water, although the proportions of
hatching were low (0–20%) at 5, 10, and 20 °C. All eggs died in the
experiments that used lake water. We conclude that the 96-well would be the
most effective size to hatch crayfish eggs in, because of its convenience.
This method using a microplate is simpler and easier compared with methods
of previous studies to artificially incubate crayfish eggs, and therefore it
might be useful to incubate eggs of other freshwater crayfish species.