aquaculture

Alfred J. Römer has published a report about the pearl cultivation in New Zealand – specifically on the pearls and abalone (Paua – Haliotis iris) cultured by Rainbow Abalone Ltd©, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

From the report:

This sea snail, which grows up to 18 cm in length and 13 cm wide, is the New Zealand representative of some hundred Abalone species found world-wide. Its underwater habitat is from a depth close to the surface to approximately 30 meters, where the water is not only clear and rich on oxygen, but where seaweed grows in larger amounts.

Sea cucumbers (Bêche-de-mer) are echinoderms – in the class Holothuroidea. They are generally scavengers, feeding on plankton and other organic debris in the bottom sediments. They often found in substantial numbers beneath fish farms. Sea cucumbers are considered delacacies in China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia; and some varieties are respected for their properties as an ingredient in traditional medicines. Sea cucumbers have been called ‘Ginseng of the Sea’.

B.H. Ridzwan, T.C. Leong and S.Z. Idid have published a document entitled The Antinociceptive Effects of Water Extracts from Sea Cucumbers Holothuria leucospilota Brandt, Bohadschia marmorata vitiensis Jaeger and Coelomic Fluid from Stichopus hermanii. This document is not always available – listed here from the web archive. An antinociceptive is an agent for deadening the sense of pain without loss of consciousness – a synonym for analgesic.

In New Zealand, Kimberley Maxwell from NIWA has been investigating the use of sea cucumbers for waste disposer as way to reduce organic waste in aquaculture systems. The polyculture of sea cucumbers could provide aquaculturists with a lucrative added revenue stream – sea cucumbers can command up to $NZ15 (approx $US10) per kg dry weight.

The CSIRO in Australia have been working to ensure the sustainable harvest of sea cucumbers to prevent overfishing while allowing Torres Strait Islanders to benefit from the use of sea cucumber stocks. This is a traditional harvest, according to wikipedia:

To supply the markets of Southern China, Macassan trepangers traded with the Indigenous Australians of Arnhem Land. This Macassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of trade between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours.

The Catalog of Fishes is searchable, for free, online; courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences. It is also available as three, hardbound books.

The catalog covers more than 53,000 species and subspecies, over 10,000 genera and subgenera, and includes in excess of 16,000 bibliographic references. Entries for species, for example, consist of species/subspecies name, genus, author, date, publication, pages, figures, type locality, location of type specimen(s), current status (with references), family/subfamily, and important publication, taxonomic, or nomenclatural notes. Nearly all original descriptions have been examined, and much effort has gone into determining the location of type specimens.

The Genera are updated from Eschmeyer’s 1990 Genera of Recent Fishes. Both genera and species are listed in a classification using recent taxonomic schemes. Also included are a lengthy list of museum acronyms, an interpretation of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, and Opinions of the International Commission involving fishes.

The Catalog of Fishes consists of three hardbound volumes of 900-1000 pages each, along with a CD-ROM (not sold seperately). This work is an essential reference for taxonomists, scientific historians, and for any specialist dealing with fishes.