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The oysters are started off inside the main building where brood-stock are reared on heated water and fed cultured micro algae. |
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A single oyster can produce 20 to 30 million eggs, but, as the progeny grow, this number is greatly reduced by frequent screening so that only the fastest and most robust oyster seed comes through |
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Oysters begin their life as microscopic free-swimming larvae where they are carefully nurtured in heated seawater and fed specially grown algae |
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Algae starts off in test tubes and is then grown in larger and larger volumes from flasks to polythene tubes and finally to large tanks outside |
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Continuous bag cultures. |
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Batch tank cultures
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Small spat at 2mm are ready to transfer to the outdoor nursery |
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Producing triploids is a highly technical process and requires a flow cytometer which measures DNA by uv fluorescence to verify results. |