BLACK-LIP PEARL, OYSTER HATCHERY TECHNOLOGY

THE BLACK-LIP PEARL OYSTER, PINCTADA MARGARITIFERA, IS THE SOURCE OF RARE, VALUABLE BLACK PEARLS. CULTURE OF THIS SPECIES HAS PROVEN HIGHLY LUCRATIVE IN FRENCH POLYNESIA, WITH STRENGTHENING WORLDWIDE DEMAND. THE HAWAIIAN SUB-SPECIES, P. MARGARITIFERA GALTSOFFI, IS ON THE HAWAII STATE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST. STOCKS ARE SCARCE DUE TO BOTH NATURAL RECRUITMENT LIMITATIONS AND THE HISTORY OF OVERFISHING FOR PEARL SHELL. THIS SUB-SPECIES ATTAINS A LARGE MAXIMUM SIZE, HAS EXCELLENT NACRE COLOR, AND SHOULD PRODUCE EXCELLENT BLACK PEARLS. RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING A HATCHERY IN KONA, HAWAII. STANDARD BIVALVE CULTURE METHODS ARE BEING ADAPTED TO THIS SPECIES. RESEARCHERS ARE FAMILIAR WITH METHODS USED IN HATCHERY CULTURE OF OTHER PEARL OYSTERS, AND HAVE CONFIRMED THE AVAILABILITY OF LOCAL BROODSTOCKS. EXPERIMENTS ARE TESTING METHOS OF SPAWNING INDUCTION, WATER QUALITY, LARVAL HANDLING, ALGAL RATIONS, PREFERRED SUBSTRATES, AND CUES FOR SETTLEMENT.