Survival, Growth, and Maturation of Triploid Abalone, Haliotis diversicolor diversicolor

Abstract

Triploid abalones, Haliotis diversicolor diversicolor were produced by inhibiting the first or second polar body release with cold shock treatments. Yields of normal veliger larvae having complete larval shells were lower in triploidized groups than in the control, but no difference in survival rates of juveniles was observed between the two groups after six months. There was no differnce in shell-length and body weight between triploids and diploids. Proportion of muscle weight to that of whole body in triploids was higher than that in diploids, especially in females. All triploid females examined had normally maturing oocytes as observed in the diploids. However, the triploids also possessed a large number of small immature oocytes which were not seen in the diploids. Gonad indices of triploid males were similar to those of diploids, but spermatozoa were not detected in triploid males.