ae 2015 rotterdam special session diversify
During the Aquaculture Europe 2015 conference, DIVERSIFY project had a special session day, Thursday 22th October. Major achivements in wreckfish culture obtained during 2014 and 2015 were presented by the species leader Tito Peleteiro, (IEO), with results from the work of F. Linares, A. Vilar, Ch. Fauvel, N. Duncan, C. Rodriguez, M. Izquierdo & C. Mylonas.
justification for selection of wreckfish in diversify
Wreckfish is one of the largest Serranid species, reaching a size of 100 Kg. It is a deep-water fish found almost throughout the world and is characterized by an extended pelagic juvenile phase (Sedberry et al., 1999; Ball et al., 2000; Deudero et al., 2000). Wreckfish is one of the most interesting new species for aquaculture, due to its fast growth (Suquet & La Pomélie, 2002; Rodriguez-Villanueva et al., 2011), late reproductive maturation (Sedberry et al., 1999), high market price and limited fisheries landings --quotas have been reduced by 90% in 2012 in the U.S.A. (NOOA, www.fishwatch.com)-- and ease of manipulation in captivity (Papandroulakis et al., 2008; Rodriguez-Villanueva et al., 2011). Its large size lends itself to processing and development of value added products, and its cosmopolitan distribution may enable EU exports.
Wreckfish acclimatizes easily to captivity and, despite its large size, no mortalities have been reported due to handling. It accepts inert food easily, being a very voracious carnivore. In a recent study of wild-caught individuals it was shown that fish grew from 1 kg to 5 kg in a period of 10 months (Rodriguez-Villanueva et al., 2011). The slow reproductive maturation of wreckfish, which occurs at an age of 5-10 y in captivity, may be a problem for broodstock development and management. On the contrary, its long juvenile stage is a great advantage from the aquaculture viewpoint, allowing for commercialization before sexual maturity, and thus avoiding problems linked to maturation, such as reduction in growth, or loss of flesh quality and organoleptic properties.
Lack of reproduction control and of established larval rearing protocols are considered major bottlenecks preventing wreckfish aquaculture. Limited egg collection has been achieved from captive spawners using hormonal induction (Papandroulakis et al., 2008) or stripping of naturally maturing fish (Peleteiro et al., 2011). Embryonic development and the early life stages have been described (Papandroulakis et al., 2008, Peleteiro et al., 2011), indicating that the large egg size of this fish (~2 mm in diameter) may offer significant advantages for its larval rearing. Reproduction and larval rearing of a very close relative, the hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) has been achieved recently in New Zealand (Anderson et al., 2012). The scarcity of broodstock is a disadvantage for this fish, but the clear biological and economical potential of this species justifies allocation of part of the effort of DIVERSIFY in bringing together almost all partners involved so far in Europe in wreckfish domestication, to overcome its documented bottlenecks --i.e., reproduction and larval rearing-- in order to produce appropriate numbers of juveniles to launch commercial production.
Wreckfish acclimatizes easily to captivity and, despite its large size, no mortalities have been reported due to handling. It accepts inert food easily, being a very voracious carnivore. In a recent study of wild-caught individuals it was shown that fish grew from 1 kg to 5 kg in a period of 10 months (Rodriguez-Villanueva et al., 2011). The slow reproductive maturation of wreckfish, which occurs at an age of 5-10 y in captivity, may be a problem for broodstock development and management. On the contrary, its long juvenile stage is a great advantage from the aquaculture viewpoint, allowing for commercialization before sexual maturity, and thus avoiding problems linked to maturation, such as reduction in growth, or loss of flesh quality and organoleptic properties.
Lack of reproduction control and of established larval rearing protocols are considered major bottlenecks preventing wreckfish aquaculture. Limited egg collection has been achieved from captive spawners using hormonal induction (Papandroulakis et al., 2008) or stripping of naturally maturing fish (Peleteiro et al., 2011). Embryonic development and the early life stages have been described (Papandroulakis et al., 2008, Peleteiro et al., 2011), indicating that the large egg size of this fish (~2 mm in diameter) may offer significant advantages for its larval rearing. Reproduction and larval rearing of a very close relative, the hapuku (Polyprion oxygeneios) has been achieved recently in New Zealand (Anderson et al., 2012). The scarcity of broodstock is a disadvantage for this fish, but the clear biological and economical potential of this species justifies allocation of part of the effort of DIVERSIFY in bringing together almost all partners involved so far in Europe in wreckfish domestication, to overcome its documented bottlenecks --i.e., reproduction and larval rearing-- in order to produce appropriate numbers of juveniles to launch commercial production.