Larval and juvenile rearing of black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus)

Abstract

The black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera (Linnaeus), has been cultured in the experimental shellfish hatchery at Tuticorin, India. The flagellates Isochrysis galbana and Pavlova lutheri were used independently as larval food at a concentration of 5 cells/μl up to day 5 and the ration was doubled thereafter until spat setting. The initial larval density was 1/ml. Straighthinge veliger stage (75×60 μm) was reached in 20 h, umbo stage (140×130 μm) on day 12, pediveliger (220×210 μm) on day 20 and plantigrade (260×240 μm) on day 23, and spat of 350×300 μm appeared on day 28. I. galbana promoted faster growth and early spat setting as compared to P. lutheri. The modal component of the larval population showed an average growth of 10.98 μm/day. A total of 6.3% of the initial larval population metamorphosed as spat. Juveniles cultured in the laboratory showed a growth rate of 0.09 mm/day. On transplantation to the culture raft in the farm, growth rate increased to 0.4 mm/day. The juveniles suffered heavy mortality after 4 months. It remains to be tested whether P. margaritifera juveniles would have a greater chance of survival in oceanic island conditions, as the natural distribution of the species in India is confined to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.