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Fisheries > Culture Fisheries > Lobsters

Seed production

Commercial seed production of rock lobster is yet to be perfected. However, breeding, larval rearing and seed production of the sand lobster Thenus orientalis has been successfully carried out by CMFRI. Hence seed in lobster farming refers to the juveniles used for culture, which are exclusively collected from the intertidal areas. In India juveniles of P. polyphagus are fished along the coast of Gujarat. The seed thus procured are transported carefully and used for stocking in the grow-out system. For lobster fattening, adult lobsters just below the commercial size are used. In the case of P. homarus and P. polyphagus, the seed size for fattening would be below the commercial size of 175 g, but above 150 g and for P. ornatus, it would be below 400 g, but above 300 g.

Hatchery seed production of sand lobster

The phyllosoma larvae of sand lobster were reared for settlement following a technology comprising of broodstock management, induced maturation, larval culture, feed development and conditioning harvest of post-larvae. The larval cycle of T. orientalis is completed within 26 days and the survival rate from phyllosoma I to post-larvae is around 22% and from post-larvae to juvenile nearly 100%. During this period the larvae were fed with a combination diet of fresh clam meat and zooplanktons. The arrow worm, Sagitta enflata is preferred in phyllosoma stage I and II, while advanced stages (III and IV) prefer ctenophore Pleurobrachia bachiae.

By rearing T. orientalis seed in closed circulatory systems with in situ fluidized substrate bed filters and reduced light intensity and using fresh clam meat as feed, then sub-adult size weighing approximately 35 g could be obtained in about 3 to 4 months, and in 180 days the animals attain an average weight of 150 g.

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