Citation: Rahman MA, Parvej MR, Rashid MH and Hoq ME (2015) Availability of pearl producing marine bivalves in south-eastern coast of Bangladesh and culture potentialities. Journal of Fisheries 3(3): 293-296. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.17017/jfish.v3i3.2015.108 AbstractThe present study was conducted during September 2014 to July 2015 to identify the pearl bearing bivalves in south-eastern coast of Bangladesh and culture potentialities of marine oyster in captivity based on field investigation. A total of 7 pearl bearing bivalve species were identified in the coast with a salinity of 18-34 ppt, pH 8.1-8.3 and water depth ranged 0.2-2.0 meter in their habitat. From the collected bivalves, most abundant oyster species windowpane oyster, Placuna placenta (Linnaeus, 1758) was reared in fiber glass tanks with seawater for a period of 6 months. During rearing highest survival rate of 88% was observed in T 1 with sandy and gravel substratum and lowest survival rate of 78% was found in T 2 with muddy substratum. Average temperature and salinity were varied between 24 °C-25 °C and 21-26 ppt respectively. From the reared oyster, highest 54 nos. small pearls in the month of April and lowest 7 pearls in December from a single P. placenta were obtained. The study proved that pearls can be obtained from the marine oysters in captivity in Bangladesh, and this offers large scale culture potentialities in our coast.

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author A. Raihan designed the molecular study, established the protocol and wrote the manuscript drafts. Author ASMN designed the phenotypic study and performed the statistical analysis. Author A. Rahman performed the statistical analysis of the paper, did the referencing and information checking for the manuscript. Author LR provided intellectual guidance during experimentation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.