Ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris), the focal character in the film ‘Finding Nemo’, represents a major contributor to the income of marine ornamental fish farmers. Despite being cultivated in captivity for over 50 years, there are still data gaps regarding clownfish culture, especially larviculture, and production is impacted by bottlenecks that reduce survival and increase prevalence of undesirable deformities. Little is known about the underlying etiology of these deformities including their developmental timing and spectrum of presentation. Furthermore, limited market data is available for clownfish, such as purchase volume, pricing, preferred characteristics, deformity incidence and consumer preferences; this information could help stakeholders along the supply chain, including producers, wholesalers, and retailers.
This NOAA Sea Grant supported project used a multi-disciplinary approach, including basic science techniques (i.e. computed tomography CT; Figure 1.), market surveys, and applied culture experiments to generate insights that bridge fundamental research with practical applications for commercial producers. Revised larviculture protocols resulting from these efforts will be evaluated for their economic feasibility, including potential cost savings and increased revenue. These data will help to refine current larviculture procedures and contribute to improved production efficiency for marine ornamental aquaculture producers.
This project brings together researchers from the University of Florida and Roger Williams University and has been ongoing since Fall of 2022. Substantial progress has been made on each facet of the project, and two peer-reviewed publications resulting from this research are now available. This presentation will review our research activities to date, challenges, successes, and plans to further our goal of supporting clownfish production in the ornamental aquaculture industry.