Maintenance of Octopus vulgaris Type II paralarvae in an estuarine area

Abstract

We assessed the survival of paralarvae kept in a floating wooden box attached to an oyster extensive cultivation system with no extra food supply. A total of 7700 newly hatched paralarvae were maintained in a 10.5-L floating box (7 cm height × 30 cm width × 50 cm length) covered with a 180-μm mesh net for 14 days with no extra food supply. Skin damages and tentacle deformities were observed in 43% of the paralarvae at 14 days after hatching (DAH). The survival rate was 64.7% at 7 DAH and 42.8% at 14 DAH. The floating box is a promising structure for culturing O. vulgaris paralarvae in an extensive system.