Taiwan has achieved a world first in aquaculture by rearing artificially fertilized narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, the Fisheries Research Institute said.
The institute has been raising artificially inseminated fish for 600 days, with some weighing up to 7kg and measuring up to 80cm in length, it said in a news release.
In April and May 2023, the institute made a breakthrough in the artificial fertilization of mackerel larvae using onboard artificial insemination off Penghu County.
Photo courtesy of the Fisheries Research Institute
The experiment was the world’s first successful land-based larviculture of the species, it said.
The first batch of fry were raised in land-based tanks for about 50 days after hatching, setting a world record, although they subsequently suffered from a high mortality rate due to the species’ aggressive nature, collisions with tank walls and jumping out of the tanks.
The institute on Wednesday said that researchers had optimized survival conditions and have cultivated the fish for more than 600 days.
The fish samples also had testes and ovaries, demonstrating the potential for transporting them to land-based ponds for further breeding in captivity, it added.
The research puts the goal of land-based, full-cycle artificial breeding of the species for farming purposes well within reach, it said.
The research has been published in the journal Aquaculture International, showcasing Taiwan’s advances in aquaculture technology, it said.
Narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, or Scomberomorus commerson, is a popular food item in Taiwan and a highly valuable fishery resource.
Prices soar over the Lunar New Year holiday, when one fish could sell for more than NT$10,000, the report said.
The research aimed to provide an alternative to wild-caught mackerel, as catches have been declining in the past few years, with the total catch dropping from 6,600 tonnes in 2002 to just 522 tonnes in 2023, it said.
The species’ scarcity is due to changes in the maritime environment, high demand and overfishing, it added.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the species as “near threatened” in 2023.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
RSS