Salinité et confort physiologique - Application pratique en élevage larvaire

The caledonian blue shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris is the second largest export commodity in New Caledonia. This industry is based on 19 production farms but also four hatcheries, two feed production units and two packing plants. The maximum production was reached in 2005 with 2400 tons. Supply of juveniles by hatchery is the bottle neck of the production chain because this species is not present in the natural environment. Recent problems of larval survival led some scientists to work on eco-physiology to propose adaptations of larval rearing protocol. Salinity of the rearing environment is taken as an example to study the influence of abiotic parameters on the animal physiology according to its development stage. The influence of salinity on survival and growth was evaluated at different development stages in Litopenaeus stylirostris. The study showed that ocean salinity (33-35 ppt) should be maintained during the larval stage, but after the post-larval metamorphosis, better growth could be achieved by lowering the salinity gradually to 27 ppt. This measure is now applied routinely in the Saint Vincent's hatchery and is the result of research in eco-physiology showing that the blue shrimp iso-osmotic point is around 27 ppt.