Crustacean Culture Division

Captive broodstock development, domestication, and seed production of commercially important native Penaeid shrimps: Indian White Shrimp (Penaeus indicus), Kuruma Shrimp (Penaeus japonicus).

                 Penaeus japonicus                                                     Penaeus indicus
Copefloc-based farming of Penaeus vannamei shrimp
Copefloc based nursery rearing of P.vannamei shrimp in lined pond system yielded a better growth of 0.6-1.2 g in 30 DOC with a stocking density of 2500 nos/m3 compared with 0.4-0.6 g in the conventional nursery system. Further, the copefloc nursery reared juveniles stocked @ 40 nos. /m² in the grow-out attained a growth of 15.2g in 50 days of culture with a better feed conversion ratio of 1.07 and a productivity of 4400 kg/ha. Better compensatory growth gain, reduced chance of disease outbreak due to short culture duration and reduction in crop  duration of up to 30 days compared to conventional farming are the major advantages of copefloc based shrimp production systems. This system can help the farmers to take more crop per cycle and better economic return.

                                                                     P. vananmei produced from copefloc technology
Seed production and culture potential of lesser penaeid flower tail shrimp (Metapenaeus monoceros)
Seed production and larval rearing technology of flower tail shrimp (Metapenaeus monoceros) shrimp are standardized. The larval rearing cycle was completed within 9-10 days, and larvae are fully fed with a microalgae-based diet. It is a native lesser penaeid shrimp. Although the growth rate of the species was not on par with other fast-growing candidate species, the shrimp being hardy and easy to breed, it can be explored for location-specific farming in traditional farming areas due to its high demand in the domestic market.

     Metapenaeus monoceros broodstock

                       Hatchery and farm produced Metapenaeus monoceros
Penaeus japonicus
Development of sustainable farming technologies for increasing the production efficiency of farmed crustaceans (Shrimps and Mudcrab).

Scientific shrimp farm                                            IMTA model farm                                  Mud crab polyculture farm

Mudcrab nursery rearing farm
Diversification of production systems in tune with species abundance, hydro and agro-climatic conditions for sustainable brackishwater aquaculture

Modular Biofloc nursery rearing  unit
Modular biofloc nursery rearing unit for shrimp/fish is developed at Kovalam experimental station (KES) of ICAR-CIBA.

Biofloc nursery

Biofloc nursery reared shrimp

Organic Shrimp pond
Development culture technology for functional live feeds such as polychaete (Perinereis sp., Nemalycastis sp., and Marphysa sp), Artemia, and Copepods (cyclopoid copepod Dioithona sp. and cladoceran copepod Eurycercus berinji).

Harvested polychaete

 Adult Artemia

Live feed copepod
Aquaculture planning using geospatial technology, watershed approach, design and development of non-conventional energy appliances for farm/hatchery mechanization, and climate change impact assessment vis-à-vis brackishwater aquaculture resources.

Solar feeder
Development of technology package for seaweed farming in brackishwaters.

Seaweed farming

• Doctoral research programmes and capacity enhancement of stakeholders.
• Technology commercialization and Provision of consultancy services.

Multi-species shrimp hatchery, Muttukadu Experimental Station- ICAR-CIBA

• Experimental native shrimp hatchery of India
• Production capacity-10 million / year
• Species produced are

• • Indian white shrimp (Penaeus indicus)
  • Kuruma shrimp (Penaeus japonicus )
  • Banana shrimp (Penaeus merguiensis)
  • Metapenaeus sp. Like monoceros ,M.dobsonii
• Shellfish biology laboratory