Instant Ocean® Blue Tang U of FLA – Global 2017 Presentation

Описание: CAPTURING AQUATIC HISTORY
In 2012, the University of Florida’s Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory and Rising Tide Conservation began breeding Pacific blue tangs in captivity.

MEET THE TRAILBLAZERS
UF TAL’s Marine Ornamental Fish Team:
Eric Cassiano
Kevin Barden
Matt DiMaggio
Cortney Ohs
Craig Watson
Roy Yanong
Shane Ramee
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Judy St. Leger, Rising Tide Conservation

BRINGING THE OCEAN TO RUSKIN, FLORIDA
Trucking in natural seawater for the project wasn’t feasible. The team mixed it on site using Instant Ocean® Sea Salt.

AFTER THREE YEARS OF EXHAUSTIVE EFFORT
The researchers could only successfully culture the tangs to 24 days after hatching. They had hit a wall.

ENTER DR. CALLAN
In 2015, Dr. Chad Callan and his research team at the Oceanic Institute at Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) became the first group to successfully culture the yellow tang from egg to juvenile.

CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
After visiting Dr. Callan’s lab, the UF team noticed the HPU team approached larval culture on a much larger scale.
This was the insight the UF team had hoped to find. Now all they needed were large spawns (less than 10,000).

MEET THE UNSUNG HEROS
A trio of blue tangs, two females and one male, which had been on site for almost five years, rose to the occasion — delivering over 50,000 eggs for a new, large-scale trial.
DAY 5
The new larvae began feeding.

DAY 15
Roughly half of the stocked larvae died in the first week — but the team pressed on.

DAY 19
Thousands of relatively large larvae were swimming strongly, but DAY 24 was fast approaching. Would the team get stuck again?

DAY 25
A collective sigh of relief. But the development of the caudal fin was next, which required a lot of energy. The team knew this would be a difficult phase to overcome.

DAY 27
As expected, larval mortalities spiked. The development of the caudal fin took its toll, only several hundred fish survived.

DAY 33
The first small group that could be considered “settled” was almost indistinguishable from a juvenile tang, except they were still transparent.

DAY 46
The larvae started to develop their juvenile pigment.

DAY 54
All the fish were bright blue with their characteristic yellow tails.

HISTORY IS MADE
Though only 27 fish survived, the successful breeding of the first Pacific blue tangs in captivity was an incredible accomplishment. Now the real work begins.

PURSUING THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE
Currently, all blue tangs are harvested from the wild to meet the demands of the aquarium industry.

TURNING SUCCESS INTO SUSTAINABILITY
The research team is already hard at work figuring out a repeatable process of spawning and breeding blue tangs on a large scale in hopes of providing an alternative source to wild capture.

At Instant Ocean®, we’re proud to be part of this groundbreaking research.

Thank you, Marine Ornamental Fish Team, for your confidence in our products.

We wish you all the best in your pursuit of sustainable aquaculture production of Pacific blue tangs.

Your work will give generations of hobbyists the chance to bring the beauty of the ocean home.

www.InstantOcean.com