Rotifer Culture
Rotifer Culture
Currently, the laboratory has a working stock of approximately 5-10 billion rotifers (Branchionus plicatilis) and has the capacity to produce up to 600 million enriched rotifers each day. Rotifers are brackish water microorganisms used in the first-feeding of larval finfish. Rotifers are about 150-300 碌m in size (right, top) and reproduce quickly through the production of an egg sac.
Filtration and Enrichment
Seawater and freshwater pass through a series of filtration systems, including sand filters (20 碌m) and cartridge filters (10 碌m, 5 碌m, 0.35 碌m), and are irradiated using ultraviolet light (120,000 mw/sec) (below, left).
Rotifers are enriched with Algamac or T-Isochrysis for durations of 12, 18 or 24 hours based on client demand.
Growth
Rotifers are grown in a combination of fresh and seawater (brackish water) in large tanks (right). They are fed a daily diet of
- baker's yeast,
- Culture Selco 庐, and
- algae (T-Isochrysis, Nannochloropsis sp.).
