Evaluation of methods for reducing epibionts during farming of the mangrove oyster Crassostrea gasar (Adanson, 1757)

Abstract Due to the competition for food, space, oxygen and due to their role as diseases vector, epibionts can negatively affect oyster farming. We assessed the efficacy of six methods commonly used for the removal of epibionts from oyster shells during farming. The experiment was conducted at an oyster farm on the Paraná coast – South Brazil. Oysters (Crassostrea gasar) were acclimated for 90 d in the cultivation system and later exposed to cleaning treatments: i) freshwater; ii) hypersaline water; iii) sodium hypochlorite solution; iv) quaternary ammonia solution; v) exposure to air; vi) hydroblasting; and vii) no cleaning procedure (control). After treatment, oysters were kept in the cultivation system for 15 and 30 d – when the total incrustation and mortality were measured. Epibionts from nine phyla were identified. The most abundant were Arthropoda (Crustacea) (62.5%), Mollusca (33.8%) and Annelida (3.1%). Freshwater [15 (n = 2263 epibionts) and 30 days (n = 2822 epibionts)] and hydroblasting [15 (n = 1850 epibionts) and 30 days (n = 2389 epibionts)] treatments were the most efficient to reduce epibionts and caused lower rates of oyster mortality [15 (5.0 and 3.33%, respectively) and 30 days (1.67 and 6.67%, respectively)].

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	OSTRENSKY,ANTONIO, HORODESKY,ALINE, PONT,GIORGI DAL, COZER,NATHIELI, CASTILHO-WESTPHAL,GISELA G.
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Academia Brasileira de Ciências 2022
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0001-37652022000601313
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!