THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ARTIFICIAL FEED FOR ABALONE FARMING

The South African abalone (Haliotis midae), or 'perlemoen' as it is mo re commonly known, is highly sought after in the Far East, which is th e destination of 90% of the product from the local fishery. Abalone aq uaculture is being established in South Africa by members of the fishi ng industry in collaboration with research institutions. To facilitate this highly intensive form of mariculture, we have undertaken the dev elopment of a nutritionally complete, formulated diet. Our results dem onstrate that a conventional animal-feed science model may be applied to abalone and this has led to the formulation of a water-stable, pell eted dry feed which may be manufactured by the animal-feed industry.