Spawning and larval culture of the pearl oyster Pinctada mazatlanica in the laboratory

摘要

The western-Pacific pearl oysters Pinctada maxima, P. margaritifera and P. fucata support commercial culture pearl production in a number of countries. The pearl culture industry relies largely on spat collected from the wild; however, hatchery production of spat has become increasingly important in recent years (Gervis and Sims 1992, Rose and Baker 1994, Southgate and Beer 1997). Mexican populations of P. mazatlanica (madre-perla) and Pteria sterna (concha-nacar) supported commercial fishing efforts from the 16th century to the early 1900s; today, both are registered as "species under special protection" by the Mexican government. The scarce populations of pearl oysters in the Baja California Sur state, together with wide variation in spat recruitment, limit the opportunity to develop a cultured pearl industry based on wild spat collection. It is necessary to produce young pearl oysters in the laboratory to assure a steady supply of oysters for these activities. The Baja California Sur State University (UABCS) has been producing Pteria sterna continuously since 1994 (Acosta-Salmon et al. 1999), while P. mazatlanica has been produced only on an experimental scale with unsatisfactory results. This article reports the results obtained from experiments on spawning and larval culture of P. mazatlanica based on the methodology to produce Pteria sterna.