Aquacultural Engineering 2 (1983) 13-26

Onshore Nursery Rearing of Bivalve Molluscs in Belgium

Christine Claus, Henk Maeckelberghe and Niels de Pauw

Laboratory for Mariculture, State University of Ghent, J. Plateaustraat 22, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

ABSTRACT From October through April the growth o f spat o f Ostrea edulis, Crassostrea gigasand Venerupis semidecussata in an onshore nursery was recorded as a function o f water temperature and food level. The results o f this study indicate that even very eutrophic water, such as that o f the Sluice Dock at Ostend, Belgium, does not provide enough microalgae to sustain growth o f bivalve spat during winter, irrespective o f whether the water is heated or not. It is necessary to supply additional food (cultured live algae). Food shortage for three months at higher temperature induced a stress situation resulting in high mortality rates, even after transferring all the spat into an optimal combination o f temperature and food availability.

INTRODUCTION Nursery rearing of bivalve molluscs, as the intermediate step between the controlled production of larvae in commercial hatcheries and the grow-out o f juveniles in the wild, is a practice in mollusc farming which is receiving more and more attention. The goal of mollusc nurseries is to raise cultchless spat of a few millimeters to a size o f 1-2 cm, in a minim u m o f time, at the highest possible density, and with a m i n i m u m of costs and risks. 13 Aquacultural Engineering 0144-8609/83/0002-0013/$03.00- Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England 1983. Printed in Great Britain

14

C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

A recent review of the methods used in nursery culturing is given by Claus (1981). All of these nursery systems result in different growth rates for the various species. The majority of systems rely on the productivity of the natural environment, and are utilizing unheated natural seawater as sole food source for the bivalve spat. Subsequently growth of the bivalves is limited to the warmer seasons of the year. Heating of the water, or moving the nursery plant to a subtropical or tropical climate can only partially offer a solution for the insufficient production during the winter, since the major limiting factor for optimal growth is food availability which under these circumstances is often still very low (Malouf and Breese, 1978 ; Claus et al., 1981 ; Malouf, 1981 ). Subsequently several controlled culturing systems have been developed in which the bivalves receive supplemental feeding, mainly consisting of live microalgae. Recent experiments on nursery rearing of bivalve spat by means of induced blooms have been described by Lucas (1976), Mann and Ryther (1977), Riva and Lelong (1978, 1981), Mercer (1981a,b), Mann and Taylor (1981), De Pauw et al. (1983), reflecting the latest evolution in the matter. A general review is given by De Pauw ( 1981 ). Based on results of previous studies on inducing mixed phytoplankton blooms, a semi-industrial nursery pilot-plant has been designed and was recently built at the border of the Sluice Dock in Ostend, Belgium. The nursery consists of two parts: a series of four outdoor algal tanks and an indoor nursery proper based on the upwelling technology. The ultimate goal of our studies is to determine the costbenefit of two types of'nursery operations: the first is based on storing during winter, at low temperature, of readily graded juveniles which have been grown in autumn when the natural food supply was still sufficient; the second consists in growing spat during winter on an algal diet or inert food in heated seawater by using f.ex. thermal effluents of a power plant.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Description of the nursery system (Fig. 1) Seawater is pumped into two constant head devices (800 liter) from which the water is distributed by gravity into four rearing tanks (775

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~ig. 1. Scheme of the indoor bivalve nursery at the Institute for Marine Scientific Research (IZWO), Ostend. CH, Constant ~ead; HT, heating tank; RT 1, 2, 3, 4, rearing tanks; RR, recycling reservoir; EB, electric boiler; R, radiator; AST, algal storage tank; AS, air supply; . recycling pump; ( - - - --), water supply; ( . . . . . ) algal supply; ( ....... ), water recycling.

16

C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

liter). For two rearing tanks the sea water flows through an intermediate heating tank (775 liter). Heating occurs indirectly by means of an electric boiler and two radiators. The algal suspension is pumped into an algal storage tank (120 liter) from which it runs by gravity to the rearing tanks at a constant flow rate. The outflowing seawater runs through a recycling reservoir (300 liter) from which it can eventually be recycled through the cultures. The outflowing heated seawater is used to preheat the inflowing fresh seawater. The spat are stocked in up flow cylinders with a mesh bottom (2 mm). The whole system is conceived in such a way that the influence of the variation of many parameters such as temperature, flow rate, stocking density, etc., can be assessed. Set up of experiment I
Test species

flat oyster Ostrea edulis L. (3-4 ram) Japanese oyster Crassostrea gigas Thunberg (3-4 ram) Manila clam Venerupis semidecussata Adams and Reeve (3-4 mm) The oysters were provided by Seasalter Shellfish Ltd, Whitstable, UK, the clams by Satmar, Barfleur, France.
Set up The four rearing tanks (numbered 1-4) received the following culturing regimes:

tank tank tank tank

1 : unheated seawater, no additional supply of algae 2: unheated seawater, additional supply of algae 3: heated seawater, no additional supply of algae 4: heated seawater, additional supply of algae

In each tank an equal batch of the three test species was exposed to the experimental conditions.
Test conditions

acclimatization period : 1 week 37 ind./cm 2 (30 000 ind./cylinder) stocking density:

Onshore nursery rearing o f bivalve molluscs in Belgium

17

flow rate: temperature:

food level: duration:

approximately 10 liter/min/cylinder heated water, approximately 15C; unheated water, following the temperature of Sluice Dock water 10 0 0 0 - 5 0 000 cells/ml 4 months, from 28 October 1980 to 6 March 1981

Growth parameters Sieving of the growing spat leads to splitting of the shellfish population into size classes. Grading was performed with 3-4 weeks intervals by sieving with 5 mm and 8 mm square mesh sieves. In this way, three size classes were obtained: animals smaller than 5 mm mesh, between 5 and 8 mm mesh, and larger than 8 mm mesh. Subsequently the total number of individuals in each category was recorded. Spat o f the largest size class were removed from the nursery and transferred to the Sluice Dock. The mean individual shell length and live weight of each size class was measured after each grading operation.
Set up o f experiment II In connection with experiment I, a second experiment was carried out with the same test animals from 5 March through 13 April 1981. The oysters and clams grown in heated seawater with additional supply of live algae, were not involved in this experiment since most of these were too large and were already transferred from the nursery into the Sluice Dock. An attempt was made to hasten the growth of all remaining spat by exposing the small bivalves to optimal growing conditions (heated seawater + additional supply of algae). The test conditions and growth parameters were similar as for experiment I.

RESULTS Physico-chemical parameters (experiments I + II) The temperature of the running seawater in tanks 1 and 2 fluctuated from 12 to 18C. The heating system was out of order during the first week of December 1980. Consequently, for a few days the tempera-

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C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

ture dropped to 3C. The mean water temperature in tanks 3 and 4 was approximtely 5C during winter, with a minimum o f - - I C during December 1980. The mean salinity was about 25%o, with minor fluctuations to 24 and 26%0. The dissolved oxygen concentration in the rearing tanks varied from 6 to 8.5 ppm 02. Ammoniacal nitrogen concentration never exceeded 2 ppm. The mean pH value was 8.9 from January till March and 8-4 during November and December.

Biological parameters
Supply o f algae from the outdoor algal tank The dominant species in the induced algal blooms was the diatom Skeletonema costatum during the whole course of both experiments. During a short period in February 1981 the algal growth in the outdoor tanks was insufficient. Subsequently in the nursery the minimal level of 10000 cells/ml could not be met for a couple of weeks. This food shortage seriously affected the growth of the bivalves during this time period. Growth and mortality The data for initial and final individual length and weight, relative increase, percentage mortality and percentage of shell deformation, for both experiments are given respectively in Tables 1 and 2.

Experiment I (Table 1)
As expected, spat held in heated water with additional supply of algae grew fairly well, whilst spat in cold water or without sufficient food showed very poor growth, and in several cases even an important mortality occurred.
Crassos trea gigas In unheated water the growth of the oysters was negligible; however no mortality was recorded. Heating of the water without addition of algal suspension, resulted in but a limited growth and a slightly increased mortality rate. Growth was only considerable when the oysters were fed and exposed to an increased temperature. Figure 2A shows the

Onshore nursery rearing of bivalve molluscs in Belgium

19

TABLE 1 Growth and Mortality of Spat of Ostrea edulis, Crassostrea gigas and Venerupis semidecussata in Unfavorable Growing Conditions (Experiment I) (L = Mean Length in ram; W = Mean Weight in mg;M = Mortality in %)

Unheated water (no supply of algae) Ostrea edulis

28 October 1980 5 March 1981 Relative increase 'L W L W M IL W ~L I~ 6 March 1981 Relative increase ~L 4.45 + 0"93 11 "9 4-84 + 1.15 14.4 2-2% 8.8% 21-0%

Heated water (no supply of algae)

Unheated water (with additional supply of algae)

4.45 + 0.93 11-9 5.66 -+ 1.42 19-1 15-3% 27.2% 60.5% 4.98_+1.03 17 "9 5-62 -+ 1 "26 36-5 5,5% 12"9% 103.9%

4-45 + 0.93 I 1.9 4.81 -+ 1-18 15.2 1-2% 8.1% 27.7% 4.98_+1.03 17-9 5.42 -+ 1-68 36"0 0.0% 8"8% 101"1% 4-43 + 0-45 37-6 6.02 +-0.77 67.3 1.5% 35-9% 79-0%

Crassostrea gigas
28 October 1980 4.98+1-03 17 '9 5.06 + 1-21 24-1 0-0% 1"6% 34"6%

/w
'L W L W M 'L W

29 October 1980 5 March 1981 Relative increase

Venerupis semidecussata 4.43 -+0.45 4-43 + 0.45 37.6 37,6 5-15 + 0.59 5-36 -+0.55 37.9 45.4 1.3% 35-4% 16.5% 21-0% 0.8% 20.7%

m e a n individual live weights o f the various b a t c h e s in the n u r s e r y as t h e y w e r e split b y grading. T h e s p e c i m e n s r e t a i n e d b y the 8 m m m e s h sieve were t r a n s f e r r e d to s u s p e n d e d t r a y s in the Sluice D o c k . Figure 2B illustrates the n u m b e r o f individuals in e a c h size class. I n t e r e s t i n g to n o t e is the f a c t t h a t s o m e individuals a m o n g the slowest g r o w e r s (size

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C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

TABLE 2

Growth and Mortality of Spat of Ostrea edulis, Crassostrea gigas and Venerupis semidecussata after its Transfer into Favorable Growing Conditions, Namely Heating of the Water and Supply of Live Food (Experiment II) (L = mean length in mm; W = Mean Weight in rag; M = Mortality in %;D = Deformation Rate in %; Relative Increase in %)
Origin of the spat from experiment I Unheated water (no supply of algae) Heated water {no supply of algae) Unheated water (with additional supply of algae)

{~ 5 March 1981 L W M ~L

8 April 1981 Relative increase

Ostrea edulis 4.84+-1.15 5.66+-1.42 14.4 19.1 2-2% 15 -3% 6-56 -+1-72 6.52 +-1-69 40-0 45.5 12.3% 28-1% 35.5% 15.2%
177-8% 138.2%

4.81+1.18 15.2 1-2% 6.49 +-1.49 43.5 19.4% 34.9%

186.2%

/w
{~ I~

Crassostrea gigas

6 January 1981

5.06+-1.2124.1 0.0% 6.35+2.49 56-6 3-2% 25.5% 134-6%

5-62+-1.26 36-5 5.5% 7-01+-3.14 90-1 10.3% 24.7% 146-8%

5-42+1-68 36.0 0.0% 8-35+-2-83 121.1 2.3% 54-1% 236"4% 6.02+-0.77 67.3
1-5%

13 April 1981 Relative increase ~L

{~ 5 March 1981 L W M D {~

8 April 1981 Relative increase

Venerupis sernidecussata 5-16+0-59 5"36+0-55 37-9 45.4 1.3% 35.4% 6.21 +-1.16 5.73 -+0-85 74-4 56.8 21-5% 30.9% 1-6% 0-0%

20-3% 96-3%

6-9% 25.1%

7-66+- 1-04 143-3 1-5% 19-4% 27-2% 112-9%

Onshore nursery rearing o f bivalve molluscs in Belgium

* > 8 mm m e s h

21

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Fig. 2. (A) Growth of spat of Crassostrea gigas in favorable growing conditions. Increase in mean individual live weight of the various batches as they were splitted by grading. (B) Total number of individuals in each size class.

22

C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

class > 5 mm) began to grow much faster after the first sieving and even reached the largest size class (>8 mm) when the batch was graded a second time.
Ostrea edulis The results obtained with Ostrea edulis are very similar to those obtained with C. gigas. However, it must be emphasized that the flat oyster is a much more delicate organism than the Japanese oyster. In all combinations, but especially in the heated and unfed condition, the mortality rates are more important. In favorable conditions the growth rate of O. edulis is always inferior to that of C. gigas (Figs 3A and 3B). Venerupis semidecussata Apart from obvious analogies with the results of oysters, attention must be drawn to the very high mortality that occurred when the clams were kept in heated water without addition of food. On the other hand, at low water temperatures, the small clams still assimilated a certain amount of the live algae which were added to the water. This resulted in a slow but substantial growth, and a lower mortality rate as well. In heated water with additional supply of algae 1I. semidecussata grew more slowly than oysters (Fig. 4).

Experiment II (Table 2) The growth and mortality rates in this experiment revealed that the past history of the batches has a prolonged effect on the performances of the juvenile bivalves. Even after transfer of the spat to better growing conditions for one month, growth was still poor and mortality was high if the spat had been previously kept in heated water without supply of food, except for C. gigas where the mortality rate was acceptable and growth fairly good. Although previous storing of the spat in cold water without any supply of algae resulted in low mortality rates after changing the test conditions, growth was obviously better if the test animals had been fed during the previous test period. This was most distinct for C. gigas and V. semidecussata. At the end of the experiment a relatively high percentage of the clams showed various shell deformations. In the test combination with unheated seawater and with additional supply of algae this abnor-

Onshore nursery rearing o f bivalve molluscs in Belgium .

23

8 mm mesh
mm mesh mesh 5 mm

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Fig. 3. (A) Growth of spat of Ostrea edulis in favorable growing conditions. Increase in mean individual live weight of the various batches as they were splitted by grading. (B) Total number o f individuals in each size class.

24

C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

~t unheated w a t e r w i t h s u p p l y of a l g a e heated w a t e r w i t h o u t s u p p l y of a l g a e unheated w a t e r w i t h o u t s u p p l y of a l g a e h e a t e d w a t e r w i t h s u p p l y of a l g a e

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Growth of spat of Venerupis semidecussata in different experimental conditions; increase in mean individual live weight.

mality could be observed in 20% o f the population. In the test combination with heated seawater and supply of algae the deformation rate was also 20%. Taking into account the respective mortality rates in the other test combinations one could assume that the misshapen indiviuals did not survive the more unfavorable conditions. However, there are more arguments for believing that the appearance o f shell deformation is simply linked to growth itself.

CONCLUSIONS When favorable growth conditions can be established, the described nursery system is very satisfactory for rearing bivalve mollusc spat. Fast growers can leave the nursery after 2 months. Slower growers should be culled after five months.

Onshore nursery rearing of bivalve molluscs in Belgium

25

The demand for cultchless seed from the nursery is for more than 75% confined to early spring. Subsequently a commercial nursery has to take one of the following options for its operation: (1) inducing fast growth of the spat during winter by heating the water and supplying live algal food, in order to have the shellfish seed ready for the spring sales; (2) growing the spat during summer-autumn and overwintering the readily graded spat at low temperature; (3) intermediate to (1) and (2): cold storage of small spat with addition of a small quantity of live food. This procedure has proven to enhance the growth in early spring when conditions are again favorable for growth. The final choice between these alternatives must be made with regard to the function of cost-benefit analysis for each commercial nursery operation. It is emphasized that successful overwintering of small spat would allow the nursery to work in summer conditions when the operations are most efficient (Hidu et al., 1981). The present study contributes to the development of an optimal overwintering procedure with acceptable risks for the nursery operator. The preliminary results are encouraging and corroborate the findings of Hidu et al. (1981), that it may be possible to hold large numbers of small bivalves with slightly tempered water temperatures and low-level feeding. Although nursery rearing of burrowing bivalves such as clams appears to be feasible, attention should be paid to the shell deformations occurring during the growth of clams in the nursery. Further research on this matter is necessary to solve this problem which is important for the economics of the venture.

REFERENCES Claus, C. (1981). Trends in nursery rearing of bivalve molluscs. In:Nursery Culturing of Bivalve Molluscs, eds C. Claus, N. De Pauw and E. Jaspers, EMS Special Publication No. 7, European Mariculture Society, Bredene, Belgium,pp. 1-33. Claus, C., Van Holderbeke, L., Maeckelberghe,H. & Persoone, G. (1981). Nursery culturing of bivalve spat in heated seawater. In: Aquaculture in Heated Effluents

26

C. Claus, H. Maeckelberghe, N. De Pauw

and Recirculation Systems, vol. 2, ed. K. Tiews, Heenemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin, pp. 465-80. De Pauw, N. (1981). Use and production of microalgae as food for nursery bivalves. In: Nursery Culturing of Bivalve Molluscs, eds C. Claus, N. De Pauw and E. Jaspers, EMS Special Publication No. 7, European Mariculture Society, Bredene, Belgium, pp. 35-69. De Pauw, N., Verboven, J. & Claus. C. (1983). Large scale microalgae production for nursery rearing of marine bivalves. Aquacultural Engineering, this issue, p. 27. Hidu, H., Chapman, S. R. & Dean, D. (1981). Oyster mariculture in subboreal (Maine, USA) waters: Cultchless setting and nursery culture of European and American oysters. J. Shellfish Res., 1 (1), 57-67. Lucas, A. (1976). A new type of nursery for rearing bivalve postlarvae. Construction, equipment and preliminary results. In: Proc. lOth Europ. Symp. Marine Biol., vol. 1, eds G. Persoone and E. Jaspers, Universa Press, Wetteren, Belgium, pp. 257-69. Malouf, R. E. (1981). Use of heated effluents for the nursery culture of bivalve molluscs: its problems and potential. In: Nursery Culturing of Bivalve Molluscs, eds C. Claus, N. De Pauw and E. Jaspers, EMS Special Publication No. 7, European Mariculture Society, Bredene, Belgium, pp. 171-88. Malouf, R. E. & Breese, N. P. (1978). Intensive culture of the Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas Thunberg in heated effluents. Sea Grant Program Publ. No. ORESU-T-78-O03, Oregon State University, Corvallis. Mann, R. & Ryther, J. H. (1977). Growth of six species of bivalve molluscs in a waste recycling aquaculture system. Aquaculture, 11,231-45. Mann, R. & Taylor, R. E. Jr. (1981). Growth of the bay scallop Argopecten irradians in a waste recycling aquaculture system. Aquaculture, 24, 45-52. Mercer, J. P. (1981a). Nursery culture of molluscs in Ireland. Progress and problems. In: Nursery Culturing of Bivalve Molluscs, eds C. Claus, N. De Pauw and E. Jaspers, EMS Special Publication No. 7, European Mariculture Society, Bredene, Belgium, pp. 189-95. Mercer, J. P. (1981b). Low cost spat production units. In: Proc. 12th Shellfish Conf., Shellfish Assoc. of Great Britain, London, pp. 69-78. Riva, A. & Lelong, P. (1978). Alimentation et croissance de bivalves filtreurs en bassin am6nag6. Publ. Sci. Tech. CNEXO, Actes Colloq., 7,415-36. Riva, A. & Lelong, P. (1981). Growth of juvenile bivalve molluscs associated with continuous cultures of natural marine phytoplankton. In: Nursery Culturing of Bivalve Molluscs, eds C. Claus, N. De Pauw and E. Jaspers, EMS Special Publication No. 7, European Mariculture Society, Bredene, Belgium, pp. 253-68.