POSSIBILITIES OF CULTURING BIG SEA CRABS (LOBSTERS, SPINY LOBSTERS)

By the end of the 19 th century an experimental work on culturing big sea crabs began in Europe and North America. Great demand for their flesh as well as their high price urged many institutions to explore the possibilities of a commercial production in varios parts of the world. Lobsters (Homarus sp.) were mainly used for experimenting, so that the most data available refer to them. Because of the complicated larva stage spiny lobster culturing is mainly being carried out in experimental circumstances. Despite the promissing results this aquacultural activity faces many problems (long time until they achieve a commercial size, loss of eggs due to stress sensitivity during the process of moulting, canibalism). In order to minimize these problems various researches are being carried out, like temperature influence, influence of light, way of feeding, hormonal regulation of moulting frequency. Although both lobster and spiny lobsters live in the Adriatic Sea, there are no data on their culturing in our contry. Concernig conditions in our sea there are realistic possibilities for crabs production development. In this way this delicacy would be more affordable to broader population and could be a highly rated export product.