Performance of a new artificial abalone hatchery culture system in terms of settlement of larvae and growth and survival of postlarval Haliotis discus discus (Reeve)

Abstract

A new abalone postlarval culture system, Stott's abalone postlarval production system (SAPPS), is being developed as an alternative method for settling larvae and on-growing postlarval abalone. SAPPS was tested in trial 1 using two commercially available artificial diets, Adam and Amos (Adam; supplied by Adam and Amos, Mt Barker, SA, Australia) and Cosmo (Cos; supplied by Cosmo, Matsuyama, Japan), against the diatom biofilm method (Diatom). In trial 2, SAPPS was tested against the previous production system (PPS, used by Stott et al. 2002). Larvae were induced to metamorphose and the resulting postlarvae were on-grown in 10-L flow-through tanks for 28 days in their respective treatments. The final survival of postlarvae was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the SAPPS-Cos group (56.7±11.15%) than in the Diatom (9.4±2.7%) and SAPPS-Adam groups (8.5±1.1%). The final length of postlarvae in SAPPS-Cos (1065±73 μm) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than those in the other two treatments (average of 841-883 μm). In trial 2 the metamorphosis rate was improved by using Spirulina platensis. The final length of postlarvae in SAPPS (1449-1471 μm) was significantly higher (P<0.05) than PPS (1065-1075 μm) and Diatom (993 μm). There is potential for SAPPS to be used as an alternative to the current diatom method in the culture of postlarval abalone.