AquaculturalEngineering6 (1987) 151-153

Short Communication A New Design for Salmon Egg Incubation Jars

ABS TRA CT The design of a set of incubation jars suitable for the maintenance of isolated batches of salmon eggs is described.

INTRODUCTION The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is now extensively fanned throughout northern Europe and in North America, whilst a great many natural stocks are also maintained by hatchery production. After fertilisation the "green eggs' are often kept in incubation jars until the embryo has developed to the 'eyed' stage when they are removed to egg baskets, trays or troughs until hatched. It is common hatchery practice for the fertilised eggs from a number of broodstock fish to be mixed together during incubation although there are a number of reasons why this may be unsatisfactory. There is a current demand within the salmon industry to produce a better quality product. At the hatchery stage this is manifested by a desire to produce eggs which can be tested for specific diseases and then certified as being free of the diseases tested for. This certification process is essential when eggs are being transported across national boundaries, but increasingly it is also being demanded by regional authorities and disease conscious individual farmers. A number of egg jars of different design have been tested and this shor~ communication describes one particular unit which satisfies the requirement of simple batch isolation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Each set of egg jars consisted of five jars, each of which had an internal diameter of 10.5 cm (4 in PVC pipe) and was 38 cm tall, mounted on a 151 Aquaculmral Engineering 0144-8609/87/S03.50-- Elsevier Applied Science
Publishers l t d . England. 1987. Printed in Great Britain

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M. G. Poxton, K. R. Murray

VIEW

In Lid

8L
END VIEW
38cm ~..-10.5 crn-

Outlet Gutter

.Funnel ~ . B a s e Inlet

Stand

Fig. 1. The salmonegg incubationjars. base plate of 10 mm PVC sheet (Fig. 1). A 1.2 cm outlet (0.5 in) was situated just below the top of the jars which therefore had a working volume of approximately 2.5 litres of eggs. Water was supplied to the base of each jar through a half section of 4 cm ( 1.5 in) pipe and flowed through four 5 mm holes upwards through the eggs and out of the top into a gutter. Inside the jars the eggs were supported on a cut down perforated filter funnel located on a PVC plug in the centre of each jar. As constructed each set of jars used 14 of materials ( 1980 prices).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Ten sets of the egg jars were made and supplied to Allt Mor Hatcheries for evaluation. The maximum capacity of each jar was determined as being around 10 000 salmon eggs (5-6 mm diameter) although the usual number stocked in practice was around 8000. One of the novel features of these jars was that the outflow gutter was made detachable so that the used water could either be directed to waste or, once disease clearance had been obtained, could be redirected to a recirculation system by

A new designfor salmon egg incubationjars

15 3

simply turning it round. The usual flow rate through the jars was about 1.0 litre min -1. One improvement that was suggested was that a central pipe of small diameter should be added to facilitate the routine administration of malachite green used for fungal control. It was considered that this design would also be appropriate for research purposes where, for instance, in genetics there is a need to keep eggs in identifiable batches. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Mr Hugh Horrex of Allt Mor Hatcheries for his invaluable collaboration. This work was supported by a grant from the Science and Engineering Research Council, Marine Technology Directorate. M. G. Poxton* and K. R. Murrayt * Brewing and Biological Sciences Department, t Chemical and Process Engineering Department, Heriot- Watt University, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1HX, Scotland