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Mariculture

Molluscan Mariculture
Pearl Culture
Mussel Culture
Edible Oyster Culture
Gastropod Culture
Cephalopod Culture

Pearl Culture
Significant achievements in Pearl Culture in India
1972 Initiated a project on Pearl Culture at Tuticorin Research Centre of CMFRI along the southeast coast
1973 Production of first cultured marine Pearl in India
1981 First batch of pearl spat produced in Hatchery
1985 - 87 Initiation of Pearl culture programmes in different maritime states
1985 - 90 Sea ranching of pearl oyster larvae and spat to revive the natural stock
1991 India hosted the FAO/NACA* training programme on Pearl culture at CMFRI -imparting training on pearl culture to trainees from other South, South East and East Asian countries
1993 Village level Pearl production through direct involvement of small-scale fishers. Pearls worth US $ 2178 were produced
1994 Pearl produced along west coast through farming operations in the Arabian Sea
1996 - 99 Signing of Memorandum of understanding with private entrepreneurs
1997 Development of an indigenous pearl nucleus upto 18 mm size by a private entrepreneur

Mussel Culture Scenes

Open sea rack off Narakkal

Estuarine rack in Mulky

Harvested mussels from an open sea raft in Calicut

Mussels grown on rope in the sea off Baindur ready for harvest

Edible Oyster Culture Protocols

Edible Oyster Culture Scenes

Farm in Ashtamudi

Integrated Farming
Cephalopod Culture

Spawning

Hatchlings
Advantage of very high growth rates
Upto 3 generations of Sepiella inermis have been raised in the lab
Partial success in culture of Indian squid

Aquariculture of marine ornamental fish
At Vizhinjam, 68 species belonging to 17 families of ornamental fish were identified. Of these, Abudefduf spp (Pomacentridae), Chaetodon collaris (Chaetodontidae), Apogon taeniatus (Apogonidae),Thalassoma lunare (Labridae), Siganus javus and S. canaliculatus (Siganidae) Sargocentron rubrum (Holocentridae), Acanthurus nigricauda,Ctenochaetus striatus and A. philippinus (Acanthuridae) Parupeneus indicus and P. macronemus (Mullidae), Scarus ghobban (Scaridae), Platax orbicularis (Platacidae) are very important.
About 40 species of important aquarium fishes were maintained in aquaria, by feeding them with different feeds; it was found that majority of the marine aquarium fishes could sustain on cooked mussel meat. On the basis of the work in this project, a marine aquarium was established at Vizhinjam for the benefit of the public and the tourists
At Mandapam in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk bay, the dominant species are Chaetodon collaris, C. octofasciatus, Heniochus acuminatus, Abudefduf septemfasciatus, Siganus oramin, S. javus, Sargocentron rubrum, Syngnathus biaculeatus and Hippocampus kuda.

Culture of Groupers, Seabass, Rabbitfish and Ornamental fish
The important species under culture experiments are the groupers (Serranidae), rabbit fish (Siganidae) and ornamental fish (Pomacentridae).
A breakthrough in the brood stock development and breeding of the grouper Epinephelus tauvina was achieved at Cochin Fisheries Harbour Laboratory. The major achievements in the experiments at Cochin are:
Successful rearing, from fingerlings, of groupers and development of brood stock in onshore, fully controlled, seawater recirculating system
Sex reversal, maturation and spontaneous spawning under onshore captive conditions
successful fertilization and larval hatching


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