My team and I are excited to share the news that our Hatchery is now fully functional and producing shrimp!
This past week, our broodstock, or adult breeding shrimp, began mating and spawned the first generation of nauplii, or larval shrimp, born at FOA's Fellsmere facility. The tiny specks pictured below are just-hatched baby shrimp swimming in a Spawning Tank.
The Spawning Room, pictured left, is usually kept dark, so that female shrimp stay comfortable and relaxed while releasing their eggs.
So far, our female broodstock have produced about 1 million baby shrimp!
After approximately 24 hours in our spawning tanks, newly-hatched shrimp are transferred to larger Larval Rearing Tanks, pictured below. These tanks are filled with warm saline water and algae, which shrimp snack on throughout the day to ensure they remain healthy and strong as they grow.