THE ROLE OF DIET IN HATCHERY CONDITIONING OF PECTEN-MAXIMUS L - A REVIEW

Techniques to bring adult scallops Pecten maximus L. into spawning con dition in a hatchery environment, known as broodstock conditioning, ar e reviewed. Previously unpublished data from experiments carried out a t the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS ) Conwy Laboratory on food quantity and quality are also included. Fac tors shown to be important for the production acid viability of scallo p eggs and embryos (in terms of numbers developing into D-larvae) are identified. In particular, eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n - 3), docosahe xaenoic acid (22:6n - 3) and arachadonic acid (20:4n - 6) are named as essential fatty acids that must be supplied in microalgae diets durin g broodstock conditioning. Other factors that are considered include t he uptake and assimilation of microalgae species as well as the optimi sation of seawater temperature and photoperiod. Techniques for the hat chery conditioning of P. maximus are discussed in relation to those fo r other pectinid species. Crown Copyright (C) 1998 Published by Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.