Hatchery Production of Pearl Oyster Spat: Pinctada Fucata

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) \non successful development of an indigenous technology for the production of cultured pearls in India in 1973, felt the urgent need for the production of pearl oyster spat in the hatchery to meet the requirement of large scale production of mother oysters for surgery. The pearl fisheries history of India shows that the \npopulation of pearl oysters in the beds of the Gulf of Mannar and Gulf of Kutch had been unpredictable and unproductive during most part. For the pearl culture to blossom into an industry, an uninterrupted supply of oysters is a prerequisite. Pressed with this need, a team of scientists of the Molluscan Shellfish Hatchery at Tuticorin Research Centre of Central Marine \nFisheries Research Institute made a breakthrough in 1981 by \nproducing the first spat of the Indian pearl oyster Pinctadafucata in the hatchery