Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 May 2009
The following piece of research has been undertaken at the suggestion of the Conway Fisheries Eesearch Station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
For some years experiments have been in progress at Conway in connection with oyster breeding. During the oyster season, from May to August, when the tanks of the Kesearch Station are not being used for mussel cleansing, cultural work on the oyster (Ostrea edulis) has been carried out. One of the greatest difficulties is the feeding of the larvae in the free swimming state and this problem affects both tank culture and culture on a smaller scale. In some years a settlement of spat has taken place, but it is not known what conditions made that phenomenon possible. It has been suggested that the available food supply might be of importance, since both detritus on the one hand, and seaweed spores and gametes on the other, have been regarded as constituting the food of larvae (Martin, 1923). As nothing over 10μ can be ingested by the larvae, there is a limit to the spores and gametes which may be used.