When "Finding Dory" hit the big screen last month, scientists worried how that might hike sales of Pacific blue tangs. Especially when the most common method of capturing these creatures are environmentally harmful. After years of research, they finally found a way to make these cerulean species available for everyone.
On Tuesday, researchers at the University of Florida announced that they have been successful in breeding Pacific blue tangs. The research was headed by Craig Watson, director of the university's Tropical Aquaculture Lab, partnered with Rising Tide Conservation and the SeaWorld-Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
Only 12.5 to 15 percent of aquarium creatures can be bred in captivity and the blue tang is "the most difficult fish." Expanding that number is a priority for some scientists especially after having some growing concerns on how fish like blue tangs end up in pet stores or aquariums.
So far, the only way to have blue tangs is to gather them in the wild. Though blue tangs aren't going extinct since they reproduce in huge amounts, the reefs where they live are what concerns the researches.
The vast majority of saltwater aquarium fishes come from the Philippines and Indonesia. Gathering blue tangs in the wild can damage or kill their coral and invertebrate neighbors, especially when the most common method is by using ground cyanide.
Though adorable and loving, biologists remained uneasy to see the release of "Finding Dory." They have nothing against the children's animated movie. But by making an animal charismatic, and cute, and with Ellen DeGeneres' voice, every fan just wants to have their own Dory.
In 2012, researchers tried to breed them in captivity for the first time. The first process is quite easy since blue tangs spawn huge number of eggs, which then hatch a night later. But the following steps are the hardest.
In the first two days of their lives, the hatchlings are suspended in their yolks and terribly tiny. They're eyeless, mouthless and fickle. The water must be in exact temperature and quality. The team eventually got more than 80 percent of them to survive to day four.
A little older, the tangs remain fragile. Their small mouths can't eat food that's more than 50 microns. Researchers then had to figure out how to raise millions of baby copepods for them to eat.
Through the first weeks of a blue tang's life, it requires specific live food at various stages from a larva to a full-fledged fish.
Researchers from the university's Indian River Research and Education Center, and the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii Pacific University were also working with Watson's team at the Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory. Finally in late 2015, the Hawaii team managed to bore yellow tangs. They had perfected the ideal mix of water quality, lighting and crustaceans necessary to rear a tang.
It took 50,000 eggs in late May to get hundred-some larvae by June 20. When the researchers came back on July 4, they saw a group of blue tangs settled on the bottom of the tank. And on day 51, the blue tangs turned "really blue."
Only 27 budding Dories survived among the original 50,000 eggs. Though it is a very small number, they now have the formula to make blue tangs. It can be replicated and perfected.
In early 2000s, just after the release of "Finding Nemo," sales of clownfish rose by as much as 40 percent. However, that spike in demand was easy to satisfy since clownfish have long been bred in captivity.
Source: The Washington Post
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