First success in captive breeding of the Tiger Cowrie, Cypraea tigris (Gastropoda: Cypraeidae), with notes on its early life development

Abstract

ABSTRACT The larval development of cowries has remained underexplored due to challenges associated with restricted growth and high mortalities, and as a result, their larvae never achieve competency or metamorphosis. In this study, we conducted a series of experiments using Cypraea tigris larvae to optimise the culture protocols. Broadly, there were no apparent differences in larval survival rates among the seawater quality levels (0.2, 1 aged, 50 μm filtered seawater). In contrast, a microalgal diet solely of Tisochrysis lutea and a mixed diet of Rhodomonas salina + Chaetoceros mulleri had higher larval survival rates than two other mixed diets (i.e., T. lutea + Tetraselmis suecica and T. suecica + R. salina). The provision of 10 ppm of the antibiotic streptomycin sulphate also boosted larval survival by preventing ciliate infection and minimising bacterial growth. We subsequently improved culture protocols by applying new information from these experiments and report the first successful captive breeding of C. tigris through to settlement. The C. tigris larvae reared at 28°C attained competency as early as 40 days post-hatching and metamorphosed by 42 days upon transfer to a well-conditioned tank. Observations of C. tigris larvae and early-stage juvenile development were documented for the first time and are reported herein.