WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2025 45 iloiloensis. She added that this study started using only adult polychaetes of unknown species until they noticed that the “jelly cocoons” containing the eggs collected from the fishponds and brought to the laboratory hatched and started to grow into adults. From there, they confirmed that the polychaetes came from these “jelly cocoons” marking the start of the Marphysa sp. hatchery. Currently, the polychaetes are cultured in tanks designed to mimic their natural habitat and are regularly fed using nutrient-rich feed mill wastes, which are trapped inside the equipment used in processing feeds. Despite this turning point in the field of Philippine aquaculture, significant challenges are still faced in polychaete hatcheries. Ms. Mandario emphasized that one of the major constraints encountered during the start of the mass production of M. iloiloensis is a lack of space. The species is mass cultured in just 6 units of 3-layered culture tanks with 10 tanks, each tank with a surface area of 0.20 m² (Figure 6). Moreover, the breeders are confined in 10 tanks, each just having an area of 1m², where they are cultured and allowed to produce jelly cocoons. According to Ms. Mandario, this limited capacity would not be able to accommodate the intensive demand of polychaetes from in-house shrimp hatcheries. Investing in expanded culture space for these polychaetes would help meet the high demand of shrimp hatcheries, as suggested by Ms. Mandario. In Bangladesh, a polychaete commercial farm used multiple specialized cement tanks with dimensions of 7 by 2.5 by 0.3 meters, which is significantly larger than the culture tanks in SEAFDEC/ AQD, to accommodate the daily demand of marine worms of the Bangladesh shrimp industry. Culture ponds can also be used to have access to a larger polychaete housing system. This is what is utilized by Delta Farms, which is the largest supplier of farmed specific pathogen-free (SPF) polychaetes in Europe. They started with a 500-square meter pond and expanded it to the current 20-hectare pond farming facility that uses seawater in farming polychaetes under extensive natural conditions. Unlike intensive farming which involves significant operational costs and a highly controlled environment to ensure high yield productivity, extensive farming relies primarily on the natural productivity of the environment and requires minimal external inputs like artificial feeds which then helps in keeping the costs low (Allen and Steeby 2011). Meanwhile, according to Ms. Angela Bacuyong, the current Senior Technician of the polychaete hatchery, a major problem they are currently facing is the low survival. In the hatchery, they check every egg in the jelly cocoons under a microscope. Good eggs are not shaped like a perfect circle while bad eggs are perfectly circular. The bad eggs are then discarded, as they are no longer viable and will not develop further. According to Dr. Leobert de la Peña, head of SEAFDEC’s (CONTINUED ON PAGE 46) TABLE 1. Comparison of Marphysa iloiloensis and Perinereis nuntia as Aquaculture Feeds. Feature Marphysa iloiloensis Perinereis nuntia Nutritional profile Protein: 64% dry weight; Fat: Protein: 51.2-52.8% dry weight; Fat: 34 ± 13% dry weight (Mandario 2020) 5.7% dry weight (Techaprempreecha et al. 2011) Reproductive strategy Encases eggs in protective jelly cocoons, Freely spawns eggs into the water, leading to increasing survival rates (Glasby et al. 2019); higher mortality (Hardege et al. 1995); iteroparous semelparous Adaptability Thrives in a wide range of salinity and Requires specific salinity and temperature temperature (Mandario 2020) conditions for optimal growth (Darya et al. 2016) Availability and sustainability Locally sourced, reducing reliance on Imported; vulnerable to supply fluctuations imports and ensuring supply stability and biosecurity restrictions FIGURE 7. A close-up view of the polychaete breeder tank. This is where jelly cocoons are collected every 3 months to observe the eggs produced by the breeders. Photo credit: R. Jabines.
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