Juvenile Production and Culture of the Silver-Lip Pearl Oyster, Pinctada Maxima (Jameson)
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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Taylor, Joseph James Uel (1999) Juvenile production and culture of the silver-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima (Jameson). PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/33794/ If you believe that this work constitutes a copyright infringement, please contact [email protected] and quote http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/33794/ Juvenile Production and Culture of the Silver-lip Pearl Oyster, Pinctada maxima (Jameson) Thesis submitted by Joseph James Uel Taylor BSc (Macquarie University) For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture James Cook University Frontispiece View over a pearl farm near Bacan Island, Indonesia. ii Statement of Access I, the undersigned, the author of this thesis, understand that James Cook University of North Queensland will make it available for use within the University Library and, by microfilm or other means, allow access to users in other approved libraries. All users consulting this thesis will have to sign the following statement: In consulting this thesis I agree not to copy or closely paraphrase it in whole or in part without written consent of the author; and to make proper public written acknowledgment for any assistance which I have obtained from it. Beyond this, I do not wish to place any restriction on access to this thesis. X6.9.99 Joseph Taylor Date 111 Statement on Sources Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any other form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. Joseph Taylor Date iv Acknowledgements I am indebted to Dr Paul Southgate and Dr Bob Rose who jointly supervised this study and provided valuable guidance and support. I would also like to thank the staff of Pearl Oyster Propagators and Cahaya Cemerlang for technical support. In particular I wish to thank Anthony Keegan, Paula Shoulder, Bob Shaw and Mike Wing from POP and Nurhayati, Murni Akase, St Aminah, Hasbuana, Mustari H. C. and William from CC. Dr Mike Heasman from NSW Fisheries and Mike Mannion from POP provided valuable comments on chapter 4. This study was made possible through the support and assistance of Pearl Oyster Propagators Pty Ltd, the Keen Round Investments project and Atlas Pacific Ltd. Finally, I thank my wife Claire and my children Liam and Holly to whom this work is dedicated. V Abstract The silver-lip (or gold-lip) pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima (Jameson) is the most highly prized of all pearl oysters. Through production of "south sea pearls", P. maxima is the basis of Australia's most lucrative aquaculture industry and is of great economic importance throughout south east Asia. In recent years there has been a rapid expansion in the cultivation of P. maxima throughout the region brought about by improvements in hatchery technology. Despite this, there is limited published information concerning rearing of P. maxima. This study aims to address this problem by establishing appropriate culture criteria for P. maxima in the specific areas of collection (settlement) and maintenance of spat in the hatchery, and the early nursery rearing and the grow-out of P. maxima at sea. In the first of a series of settlement experiments, the influence of pediveliger stocking density on settlement and subsequent growth of spat was investigated. Pediveligers were placed in 15 L vessels at densities of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 larvae per mL. The number of spat per 100 cm2 in the 1.0 larva per mL treatment was over double, and significantly greater (P< 0.05) than that in the 0.5 larva per rid, treatment. Increases in the number of spat were not significant (P >0.05) between larval densities of 1.0 and 1.5 larvae per mL and 1.5 and 2.0 larvae per mL. Stocking density did not significantly influence survival (P>0.05). By day 44, spat from the 0.5 larva per mL treatment were significantly larger (P <0.05) than spat from all other treatments and spat in the 1.0 larva vi per mL treatment were significantly larger (P <0.05) than in the 1.5 or 2.0 larvae per mL treatments. Differences in size were most likely due to competition for space and food. Further settlement experiments assessed artificial substrata for the collection of hatchery-reared P. maxima. Pediveliger larvae were settled onto collectors made from: curved PVC slats; polypropylene rope; a combination of PVC slats and polypropylene rope; and mono-filament nylon. Rope and the combined PVC slat and rope collectors had significantly more spat (P <0.05) than either nylon or PVC slat collectors. In a second experiment, significantly more spat (P <0.001) were counted on horizontally positioned PVC slat collectors than those vertically positioned. The concave surface of PVC slats had significantly more (P <0.001) spat than the convex surface, regardless of orientation. In a third experiment, significantly more (P <0.001) spat attached to PVC slats with an epifloral biofilm than clean PVC slats. An adequate diet for settled spat is essential and seventy-five day-old P. maxima were fed for 21 days on the following monospecific micro-algal diets: Isochrysis aff. galbana, (T -ISO), Pavlova lutheri, Chaetoceros muelleri, C. calcitrans, and Tetraselmis suecica. The largest increase in ash free dry weight (AFDW) was for spat fed C. muelleri, which was significantly greater (P <0.05) than for any other species. The mean AFDW of spat fed T suecica and T-ISO did not differ significantly from each other, but were significantly greater than for spat fed C. calcitrans and P. lutheri (P <0.05). The final AFDW of spat fed P. lutheri was not significantly different from that of unfed spat (P >0.05). vii P. maxima that were ready for transfer to sea were re-settled onto PVC slats at a mean density of 340 per 100 cm2 and either left exposed (control) or covered with a mesh sleeve of varying aperture sizes (0.75 mm, 1.5 mm or 3.0 mm) before being suspended from a raft. Two weeks later, there was no significant difference (P >0.05) among the number of spat retained on the covered slats; however, all covered slats had significantly greater (P <0.001) spat retention than controls. Spat were significantly larger (P <0.05) with each increase in mesh size. There was no advantage in using sleeves with a mesh size small enough to retain dislodged. Spat require detaching from their point of attachment during grading. The following stress factors were tested as potential inducers of detachment in P. maxima: salinities of 45 Woo, 40 0/00, 30 0/00 and 25 0/00; pH of 10 and 4, and air exposure. High mortality (>80%) resulted from the use of pH 10 and it was abandoned after 1 h. Hypersaline sea water (45 0/00) resulted in significantly more spat detaching (92.3 ± 0.6 %, mean ± s.e., P<0.05) than in any other treatment. A pH of 4 resulted in 85.6 ± 2.3 % (mean ± s.e.) detaching after 1 h. Exposure to the treatments beyond 1 h, except in the case of exposure to air, did not yield significant increases (P> 0.05) in numbers of detached spat. Spat that had detached in the treatment baths after the first hour began to re-attach during the second hour. After 24 h exposure to treatments, excluding pH 10 and air exposure, spat had firmly re-attached with 100 % survival and no mortality was recorded 24 h after the spat were returned to normal sea water. viii Byssus regeneration following detachment was studied in P. maxima of six different age classes. In the first experiment, 75 or 120 day old P. maxima were removed from their points of attachment by severing the byssus and byssal thread production and oyster behaviour were monitored for 120 hours. Younger juveniles re-attached faster than older juveniles, but older juveniles produced significantly more (P <0.001) byssal threads after 12 h and significantly more (P <0.001) byssal threads over the 120 h period. Byssus production for the younger juveniles did not increase significantly (P >0.05) after 48 h whereas byssus production from older animals continued to increase significantly (P <0.001). P. maxima were observed to eject the byssal apparatus, move and reattach within 24 h. Re-attachment following ejection of the byssus was faster than that following mechanical severing. In the second experiment, older P. maxima aged 7, 9, 11 or 13 months were placed in nets in strong (2.5-3.5 knots per h) or mild (<1 knot per h) current. Pearl oysters re-attached faster in the mild current. However, after 5 days, oysters aged 13 and 11 months in strong current had produced significantly more threads (P< 0.05) than oysters in mild current. This trend continued after day 5, but was not significant (P>0.05) for pearl oysters aged 9 and 7 months. By day 11, 9-month-old oysters had produced significantly more byssal threads than any other age class. P. maxima are grown in tropical regions affected by monsoonal rains which can alter salinity for extended periods. Juvenile P. maxima were held over a period of 20 days in the following salinities: 45 Woo, 40 0/00, 34 0/00 (ambient), 30 0/00 and 25 0/00.