The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Indian River Research and Education Center’s (IRREC) aquaculture laboratory, directed by Dr. Cortney Ohs, has received a rare species of fish to try to culture at the lab.
The Japanese Masked Swallowtail Angelfish, which can be found off the coast of Japan, is now being reared at IRREC’s aquaculture facility. IRREC is the first place in the world to successfully culture this fish.
Ohs said the Japanese Masked Swallowtail Angelfish is rare because it’s in deep water, about 328 feet below the ocean’s surface.
“When we saw it was available through a collector, we requested them and they gave them to us so we could do research,” he said.
The fish is rare to the aquaculture profession because they are only able to catch them during certain times of the year when they come up to the surface.
Raising this species of fish is part of a larger research project Ohs is working on with the goal of diversifying the species produced by the aquaculture industry. His lab works primarily with marine fish.
He said many fish species like the Japanese Masked Swallowtail angelfish have never been cultured before.
“We don’t know how exactly to raise the larvae. We don’t know what their spawning cues are,” he continued. “Some of them are temperature changes, light cycle changes or a combination.”
There are documented methods of successfully culturing some angelfishes, and it’s something Ohs and his team share with people around the world. Culturing angelfish helps with conservation efforts, leaving the fish on the reefs in the ocean and supplying aquariums with cultured fish.
One of their challenges is each species of fish have different spawning times. He said they have to look at changing the water temperatures, light cycles, and the coordination of the different species.
“If you have the temperature and light cycle dialed in, you can keep them reproducing for a long period of time,” he said.
Since the Japanese Masked Swallowtail Angelfish is a rare species, it requires a specific type of diet for feeding them. This includes high protein and essential fatty acids.
The next step with the angelfish are once they’re able to consistently reproduce, run research trails on their larval to define feeding protocols for their live zooplankton dietary needs.
“The big question will be: How do you raise the larvae and get the highest survival? We can share the step-by-step process,” he said. “So, when industry partners are using it commercially, they’re not wasting time not having any success.”
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