Volume 77
Reliable Milk Conch Captive Breeding Population Helps to Pave the Way to Establish a Queen Conch Captive Breeding Population
Authors
Amanda Matthews, Nicholas Beswick-Seidl , Megan Davis, and Robinson Bazurto Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2024
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Seventh Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Gosier
Country: Guadeloupe, French West Indies
Abstract
In 2024 a breakthrough that occurred at FAU Harbor Branch offers promising advancements in conch aquaculture by potentially eliminating the need for wild-sourced egg masses to supply hatcheries. Sixteen milk conch (Macrostrombus costatus) broodstock, consisting of nine females and seven males, were provided with a sand substrate, flow-through seawater, and a diet predominantly consisting of diatom-rich algal turf scrubbers (Fig. 1). These scrubbers were cultured using nutrient-rich wastewater from FAU Harbor Branch’s onshore Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture system. This diet has been one of the contributing factors that resulted in reliable and prolific spawning, compared to previous studies that used formulated feeds (Shawl and Davis 2004).