THE FEASIBILITY OF CORVINA AQUACULTURE FOR POPULATION ENHANCEMENT AND FOOD PRODUCTION

AQUACULTURE, THE CONTROLLED FARMING OF AQUATIC ORGANISMS, OFFERS PROMISING NEW ALTERNATIVE SUPPLIES OF SEAFOOD PRODUCTS. COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF CATFISH, TROUT AND OYSTERS HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY IN THE LAST DECADE. HOWEVER, FOR THE MARINE FINFISH, WHICH COMPRISE MOST OF THE NATION'S PRESENT COMMERCIAL HARVEST AND RETAIL SEAFOOD SALES, THERE IS VERY LITTLE BIOLOGICAL DATA TO SUPPORT CULTURE SYSTEM DESIGN, AND FEW SPECIES OTHER THAN SALMON ARE BEING FARMED. THE ORANGEMOUTH CORVINA, CYNOSCION XANTHULUS, IS A MEMBER OF THE COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT SCIAENID FAMILY OF MARINE FISHES WHICH ARE EXCELLENT TASTING AND APPEAR WELL SUITED TO AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH INDICATES THAT CULTURE OF CORVINA MAY BE POSSIBLE, IN SEVERAL AREAS OF THE U.S. EXPERIMENTS WILL INVESTIGATE THE CORVINA'S POTENTIAL ADAPTATION TO BRACKISH AND WALTWATER, ITS OXYGEN CONSUMPTIONDEMAND, TOLERANCE TO AMMONIA EXCRETION PRODUCTS, AND POTENTIAL FOR HYBRIDIZATION WITH OTHER CLOSELY RELATED SCIAENIDS. RESULTS OF THESE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP A COMPUTER MODEL TO PREDICT THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF COMMERCIAL CORVINA PRODUCTION.