Culturing Abstracts
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Hormone Induced Spawning
of the Atlantic Lookdown, Selene vomer Andrew L Rhyne, Barbara Bailey, Kathy Tuxbury, Monika Schmuck, Joseph Szczebak, Roger Williams University, New England Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
There has been a surge of interest in the production of marine fish for display in public aquaria. In order to develop aquacultured displayed specimens, reliable sources of embryos must be developed. While some species spawn on exhibit, many species of marine fish do not volitionally spawn in captivity. Here we demonstrate the successful induced volitional spawning of the Atlantic Lookdown, Selene vomer. A mature population of S. vomer broodstock (two males, eight females) were transferred from exhibit to New England Aquarium’s offsite holding facility in Quincy, MA. Broodstock were cannulated to determine gender and gonadal development then transferred to a 6,000 L recirculating seawater system designed specifically for the conditioning and spawning pelagic fish. Females were implanted with the slow release GnRHa hormone implant OvaPlant (Syndel) and spawning ensued 36 hours post injection. The single spawning event resulted in the production of over 2,600 juvenile fish, which reached a marketable size of 3-4” by 60 days post hatch. |
Spawning Behavior and Early Development of the Flashlight fish, Photoblepharon palpebratum Audrey Santos*, Paula Carlson, Daryl Richardson, The Dallas World Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Minimal information has been published regarding the life history of members in the Anomalopidae family. Captive rearing records of Photoblepharon palpebratum are not readily available. The first egg release was observed in March 2016 in the Palau exhibit at the Dallas World Aquarium, which mainly houses flashlight fish. By October 2016, the flashlight fish began spawning regularly. The exhibit is on a reverse light cycle and the fish spawn in the dark. Spawning behaviors are observed daily and digitally recorded. Flashlight fish reproduce via paired external fertilization. Fertilized eggs are harvested almost daily from the exhibit. After two days the eggs hatch into simple bodied larvae. Different larval rearing attempts have documented seven days development post hatch. Recent changes to the larval rearing setup demonstrated that increasing temperature allows for better mouth development. Continued efforts to evaluate effects of temperature and food preference will hopefully allow for successful larval rearing. |
Methods, Mishaps, and Successes of Rearing the Blue Chromis Monika Schmuck, New England Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Chromis cyanea, the Caribbean Blue Chromis, is a dynamic and desirable addition of color and movement to many public aquaria exhibits across the country, including the New England Aquarium (NEAq) in Boston, Massachusetts. At any given time, our largest exhibit, the Giant Ocean Tank, will hold a school of up to 100 Blue Chromis. When the NEAq initiated an official larval rearing program to expand on their sustainability efforts, the focus was decidedly on a key exhibit species, the Blue Chromis. Early in 2015, the Aquarium acquired a small school of 20 wild-caught Blue Chromis to serve as the broodstock population. Over the course of the next year, the broodstock were groomed, nests were collected, and larval rearing methods were trialed. This presentation will detail the methods, mishaps, and successes of rearing the Blue Chromis, from broodstock care to larval rearing techniques to quarantine and exhibit introduction. |
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Zoo Babies, Aquaculture Efforts at OHDZA, with an Emphasis on the First-Ever Rearing of the Stocky Anthias, Pseudanthias hypselosoma Timothy Morrissey, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
This presentation focuses on building and maintaining a successful larval rearing system at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Techniques were established for live food culture, egg collection, and larval rearing. CO2 injection was found to be key in culturing microalgae. Once the algae methods were established and repeatable, copepod cultures were ramped up. Most broodstock fish are on exhibit so egg collection techniques had to be modified for each exhibit and/or species. The larval rearing methods were then adapted to each species with the highlight being the first captive raised Stocky Anthias. We now culture 3 species of microalgae, 2 species of copepods, rotifers, and have raised 7 species of tropical teleost fish totaling over 200 fish and more than 100 of those back on exhibit. This talk will go into detail in explaining the process of starting from scratch and building a successful larval rearing system. |
Attach Of The Clones:
Asexual Re-aggregation of Pocillopora damicornis Chelsea S Wolke, Norton T Chan, David A Gulko, Stephen P Ranson, Laura Del Rio Torres, Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery, Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Hawaiian corals average 1 cm of growth per year, which is amongst the slowest rates worldwide. As a result, it takes these corals longer to achieve reproductive sizes and requires significantly longer recovery periods after environmental perturbations. At Hawaii’s Division of Aquatic Resources’ Coral Restoration Nursery, Pocillopora damicornis frequently releases asexual planula which have been successfully collected, settled, and re-aggregated in a controlled environment to produce larger, mature colonies at rates faster than they occur in the wild. The resulting colonies provide an in-house supply of source material for reef mitigation projects, having the ability to improve reef restoration techniques by providing further insight for increasing growth rates via assays on replicate corals with no impact to wild source colonies. Our ability to grow coral, in addition to developing and implementing transplantation techniques without harvesting existing wild colonies, helps to maintain our natural reef’s ecological value. |
The Cuboid Invasion –
Part 1: Sweating the Small Stuff Jennie Janssen1, Brian Nelson1, Cheryl Lewis Ames21, National Aquarium and 2Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
In November 2016, juvenile box jellyfish (Phylum Cnidaria; Class Cubozoa) began appearing in an 80L reef scorpionfish exhibit at National Aquarium. As cubozoans are considered highly venomous, a modified handling protocol was immediately implemented along with relevant staff education for both safety and biosecurity. With two tentacles present in its juvenile stage, rather than the typical four, this cubozoan resembles only one other cubozoan for which the life history is known: Carybdea marsupialis from Puerto Rico. However, some morphological differences exist between the juvenile box jellyfish from National Aquarium and Puerto Rico. Therefore, in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, DNA molecular analysis was conducted at the Laboratories of Analytical Biology to determine species identity. The resulting molecular barcode was used to develop markers to facilitate environmental-DNA (eDNA) detection of this cubozoan in National Aquarium’s salt water habitats where their presence might pose a safety threat. |
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When it snows in Florida:
Methods for the successful mass culture of moon jellies (Aurelia sp.) at the Florida Aquarium Libby Nickels, The Florida Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
There are a number of factors that limit a facilities ability to culture any species of jelly and each case is different. Forcing strobilation on a schedule, harvesting ephyra, feeding ephyra, and then raising the jellies to a size that is displayable all take time, space, and energy. The Florida Aquarium has created a culture system and husbandry protocols which have allowed for the successful strobilation of moon jellies (Aurelia sp) every 6 months for the last 3 years. The current culture system and husbandry protocols not only allow the ability to raise the jellies to a displayable size for stocking a 700 gallon exhibit but to also routinely surplus them by the thousands at multiple life stages while keeping a significant number of individuals on reserve as a healthy backup population and for feed out to other species of jellies. |
Hungry, Hungry Rhizostomes: Successful Rhizostome Culture Strategies at National Aquarium Matt Wade, National Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Jellies are highly popular in public aquaria, but the availability of Rhizostomes can be challenging. Though some species have been successfully cultured in aquariums, specific culturing information is difficult to obtain and replicate. National Aquarium staff successfully cultured Mastigias papua and Phyllorhiza punctata following multiple failures, by modifying advice from multiple colleagues. Strobilation is now controlled by transferring polyps between our exhibit and culture lab, which are supplied by seawater of different chemical make-ups. Ephyrae developed best in successive enclosures: transferred from evaporating dishes to pseudokreisels to modified boxes to bullnose exhibits. Optimal growth and activity were observed using metal halide lighting at PAR levels exceeding 500 μmol m-2 sec-1. Feeds consisted of a slow Artemia nauplii drip supplemented, as medusae developed, with live rotifers, Reef Nutrition R.O.E. and Piscene Energetics Calanus finmarchicus. Compiling and communicating these lessons learned in this format will be instructive to future Rhizostome culturists. |
Octopus bimacu…wait, which one
am I trying to rear again? Who cares - it’s an octo project! But really, it was bimaculatus Artie Ahr, California Science Center Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Attempts were made at rearing O. bimaculatus paralarvae. Settlement is low due to high mortality rates as these require adequate nutrition and upwelling. This project utilized different tank designs with the same feeding schedules. The tanks were stocked with copepods and progressively different sized foods were introduced. Settlement was not achieved, however presettlement behaviors were observed. The longest living paralarvae lived for at least 28 days in tank design “A”, 19 days in tank design “B”, and up to 47 days in tank design C. Survivorship rates were as follows for tank design A: Day 7: 43.8% Day 14: 24.7% Day 21: 5.5% Day 28: .06% This surpasses the previous DPH success of 6 recorded by Ambrose in 1983. Octopuses were collected on exhibit under natural hatching as well as hatched artificially in a manifold with no significant difference in survivorship. From our results, it seems that the pseudokreisel was the best set up for the paralarvae, and additional work should be done on exploring these techniques |
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The Missing INK -
Innovations to Cuttlefish and Squid Husbandry Bret Grasse, Marine Biological Laboratory Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present – Thomas Edison. Aquariums have been keeping squid and cuttlefish for decades without significant evolution in species diversity and husbandry methods. Our industry knows relatively very little about cephalopods compared to other commonly displayed freshwater and marine organisms. In order to continue advancing our knowledge of cephalopods in aquaria, we need to continually investigate ways to optimize cephalopod husbandry. Areas to be improved upon are feeding methods, artificial incubation, maximizing reproduction, in vitro fertilization, and transfer methods. Cephalopods are a rapidly emerging model organism for numerous objectives, not only for public display but also biomedical applications, neural research, soft robotics, behavior studies, and genomics, to name a few. This makes it increasingly important to better understand this group of animals and promote their longevity and culture in aquaria over time. |
Chill out! It’s just Nannochloropsis .Brett Ratashak, OCCC Aquarium Science Program Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Nannochloropsis spp. is a common microalgae grown for live food culture at aquariums because of its availability and simple culturing process. Nannochloropsis spp. provides critical nutrition for rotifers, invertebrates, and various larval species. Although simple to culture, microalgae cultures encounter challenges. Attempting to eliminate ciliate contamination in one the cultures at the Aquarium Science Program facility, we discovered that Nannochloropsis oculta can successfully rebound from prolonged freezing. After freezing batches for 24 hours, three days, one week, and one month cultures successfully restarted. These intriguing results offer the potential for new exploration in the field of microalgae culture, such as, the ability to eliminate biological contaminants, store batches, and easily ship stock. |
Improvise, Adapt, Overcome:
Larval Success with Minimal Resources Laura Wandel, Kristen Salinas, Britnee Niehus, Moody Gardens Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
Marine ornamental aquaculture is a necessary area of growth within our industry but individual institutions may experience staff, knowledge, or resource bottlenecks that make larval fish culture seem prohibitive. Through industry surveys, time logging, and endless trial and error, the fish propagation team at Moody Gardens has identified ways to resolve these bottlenecks through decision trees, project growth resources, and partnership opportunities with other facilities. Our hope is for biologists to use these resources at their home institution to initiate small-scale larval culture that can help convince management to invest in larger scale activities. |