The hatchery faced a couple of initial setbacks with brood failures caused by startup pains. The first spawn for the hatchery was early in June of this year. The larvae can either be stored by being placed in a coffee filter, wrapped in a moist paper towel and sent to refrigeration or allowed to spat on a micro cultch of ground-up oyster shells where each attaches itself a piece of fine sand-like cultch that will grow into a single oyster. Twelve to fifteen days later, larvae are ready to spat, or cement themselves, onto a surface. They are then fed with Wooley’s special algae mix. Once the eggs are fertilized they are placed in large tanks that fill the room.
Triploids will not spawn in the summer, meaning they have nice fat meat, allowing for harvesting year round.” “When you breed a tetraploid and a diploid, it results in a triploid, or an oyster that has a set of three chromosomes. “On the top row are tetraploid oysters, which have four sets of chromosomes, and the bottom two row are diploid oysters, which have two sets,” explained Callam. Once the eggs are fertilized -creamy looking liqud on strainer – they are placed in large tanks that fill the room. Assistant, oversees egg spawning from the brood stock. Next door, Brian Callam, a LSU Graduate Ph.D. The white gives an overall spectrum, while the blue and red lights are designed for rapid growth.” The color light system is specific for algae growth. “We produce more than 450 gallons of food each day, with any extra being used to feed the brood stock. “We have 144 bags to grow algae to feed the oyster larvae,” she told Gulf Seafood News. White, red and blue lights illuminate the room giving off a surrealistic glow. LDWF biologist Sarah Wooley spends her days in a lab looking more like a set from the Starship Enterprise.
The first of its kind facility in the Gulf produces it own specialized food. The main thing is to have the right brood stock, which we do in our nearshore oyster research farm.” “That has us producing about a 130 million larvae a month, and I don’t see a problem with that. “Sea Grant is under contract to direct the production of a billion larvae during the 10 month hatchery season,” said Supan.
“When you breed a tetraploid and a diploid, it results in a triploid, or an oyster that has a set of three chromosomes.” Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink