The development of a novel hatchery system for the Ormer Haliotis tuberculata

Summary

‘Pinkstones’ are natural stones covered with coralline algae which secrete a hard pink coloured calcium carbonate coating. The relationship between the coralline alga Lithothamnion sp. and the settlement of abalone has been noted previously, but not seemingly exploited at a commercial level. Heasman reports that in the case of H. rubra not only does the production of GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) play a significant role in mirroring neurotransmitters involved in metamorphosis from the free swimming planktonic stage to the post-larval settlement stage, but the ‘antifouling cells’ used to keep the surface of the alga clean are of the right size to provide initial nutrition before the larger diatoms can be consumed. If this is linked to the reporting that 1 litre of ‘pinkstones’ can accommodate up to 60,000 post larval abalone and they can survive and grow over the following 8-10 days before selectively migrating, largest first, then they can become vector stones with the potential for commercial exploitation. This project was designed to establish if this was the case with Ormers and if so how to utilise the process to advance the aquaculture of the species.

Author

• Tony Legg CIBiol MIBiol MIFM

Publication Reference No.

SEAFISH Project 50, Ref.10750

Publication date

01 December 2007