Pearl oyster culture

Abstract

The major pearl culture industries in Japan, Australia and French Polynesia rely traditionally on oysters collected from the wild. They are collected as adults, or as juveniles which are on-grown to a size suitable for pearl production. However, hatchery production has become increasingly important to the industry over the past 25-30 years with resulting changes to the general culture techniques used for pearl oysters. Hatchery propagation of pearl oysters allows selection for commercially important traits such as nacre color and growth rate. It also provides a basis for techniques such as gamete cryopreservation and induction of triploidy, which are well established in other bivalve culture industries but are yet to be fully assessed for their potential in pearl oyster culture. This chapter covers the culture methods used for pearl oysters during all stages of culture, from hatchery production to the husbandry of oysters "seeded" for pearl production.