Shrimp Hatchery

In addition to the development of commodity shrimp production technologies researchers at the Mote Aquaculture Park will be investigating diversification of shrimp production into new markets. The farm raised bait shrimp industry in the state of Florida and the southeastern U.S. has been slow to develop. The major stumbling block to the development of the farm raised bait shrimp industry in the state is the lack of a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) broodstock of native shrimp species. Mote aquaculture researchers will be working on the development of disease free lines of native species to provide seedstock to interested farmers in 2005. The broodstock and hatchery systems (shown in the diagram to the right) are currently under construction and will be used for seedstock production.  Their design is based on 100% recirculating technologies with zero discharge. These life support systems represent the next stage in U.S. shrimp farm hatchery development.

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Shrimp Broodstock

The first step of shrimp production is obtaining high quality shrimp eggs.  Production of these eggs will be carried out by adult shrimp (broodstock) that will either be collected from the wild or will be grown from past shrimp batches.  Males used in spawning efforts will weight approximately 0.88-1.06 ounces (25-30 grams) each and females approximately 1.06-1.41 ounces (30-40 grams) each.  Each female that participate in spawning activities can potentially produce 150,000 eggs per maturation cycle. 

Maturation Tanks

Traditionally, adult shrimp are able to be manipulated to spawn in captivity when stocked into maturation tanks.   These tanks are kept in rooms where the noise level is kept at bare minimum.  This prevents any disturbance to the shrimps' spawning behaviors.  The tanks used for maturation are black circular tanks with a diameter of approximately 15 foot and a 3 foot depth. 

Approximately 80 broodstock will be stocked into each brooder tank at a ratio of 2 females to every 1 male.  The tank environment is maintained as a saltwater recirculating system during this time.  The tank conditions will be held at a temperature of 27^oC with a photoperiod of 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Mote's maturation systems are currently under construction and our shrimp spawning efforts are expected to produce approximately 2.5-5 million post larvae/cycle.