Culture of Phyllosomas of Spiny Lobster and Its Application To Studies of Larval Recruitment and Aquaculture

Abstract

Complete larval development of spiny lobsters in culture has been achieved for cool temperate species, Jasus lalandii (H. Milne Edwards, 1837), Jasus novaehollandiae Holthuis, 1963, Jasus edwardsii (Hutton, 1875), Jasus verreauxi (H. Milne Edwards, 1851) and Palinurus elephas (Fabricius, 1787), and a warm temperate species, Panulirus japonicus (Von Siebold, 1824) since 1987. A good survival rate of about 10% was obtained for J. verreauxi. The factors important to the successful larval culture were: (1) introduction of microalgae into the culture water, (2) feeding with mussels and (3) supply of water from the bottom of the culture tank to induce a continuous circular current in the tank. The shortest duration of the phyllosoma stage for the above species, respectively, was 306, 319, 212, 197, 132, and 307 days. The number of instars was 17 for Jasus spp., 9 (estimated) for P. elephas and 25 (estimated) for P. japonicus. The shortest duration of the pucrulus stage was 19, 12, and 11 days for the above animals, respectively. Jasus verreauxi may be suitable because of its potential for a high survival rate. Palinurus elephas is also an interesting possibility because of its short larval life. Duration of the larval stage seems to be species specific. Within a species, it is affected by water temperature and food availability for the phyllosoma but exclusively by water temperature for the puerulus.