The scale‐up of spotted rose snapper, Lutjanus guttatus, larval rearing is described. Fertilized eggs (480,000) were obtained from a 1‐d harvest of a natural spawning captive broodstock acclimatized for 1 yr and 6 mo in two fiberglass tanks (18 m3). Fourteen hours after spawning, 89.6% of the collected eggs were floating, of which 96.2% were transparent with live embryos. Incubation at 25–26 C lasted 21 h, with 90.2 ± 2.1% hatching percentage of normal larvae. The percentage of viable larvae at 48 h after hatching was 79.7 ± 1.9%. Initial stocking density was 10.4 ± 1.0 larvae/L 2 days after hatching (d.p.h.). A total of 22,600 juveniles (1256 ± 170 juveniles/m3) were harvested from six 3‐m3 cylindrical fiberglass tanks. Average survival was 12.1 ± 1.1%. Final mean length and weight were 5.5 ± 0.05 cm and 2.24 ± 0.04 g, respectively. Growth expressed in total length was TL = 2.1476e0.0543t (R2 = 0.9911). Final mean biomass and condition factor were 2.8 kg/m3, 12.3% and 1.346. General length‐weight ratio was W = 0.05460 LT2.2306.

Brown eggs have gradually entered the traditional white-egg markets as a distinctive mode for packaging specialty eggs. A test was conducted at the Brigham Young University Sensory Laboratory (Provo, UT) to understand how consumers view attributes of the brown egg relative to the white egg. The objectives were to see how the consumer viewed properties of eggs by color and to examine the preference for brown color intensity. The 52 panelists were all women who routinely purchased and consumed eggs. Some women (53.8%) consumed eggs twice weekly, and 40.4% purchased them at least every 2 wk. Purchases included specialty eggs (14.6%) consisting of cage-free (50.0%), organic (28.6%), and n-3 enhanced (21.4%) eggs. The panelists preferred white eggs (90.4%). Though brown-shelled eggs did not exceed white eggs in preference, they were perceived positively (white-shelled %:brown-shelled %) as being more nutritious (65:29), having more flavor (27:14) and n-3 content (62:39), having a farm-flock origin (46:44), and being from organically fed hens (56:31) To test the preference for shade of brown eggs, a set of 6 eggs with varying intensities of brown color was evaluated for accepted appearance using a 9-point hedonic scale. The egg color intensities were measured using a Hunter Colorflex spectrophotometer (Hunter Associates Laboratory, Reston, VA) and the CIE system. The lightness (L*) values ranged from 83.2 for the white egg to 63.6 to 46.5 for the brown eggs. A significant (P < 0.05) preference was found for the 2 lighter shades of brown-shelled eggs (L* 63.6 and 57.5). Using the 9-point scale, panelists then compared brown eggs side by side with white eggs. Again, the 2 most light-tinted brown eggs were found most comparable with the white egg in acceptability and better (P < 0.05) than the darker brown eggs. In conclusion, white eggs were preferred over brown eggs; however, brown eggs gained in acceptance but did not exceed white as likely to be more nutritious or flavorful, fresher, organic, and of cage-free origin. Varying color shades in cartoned eggs was equally as acceptable as uniform colored eggs. Panelists preferred the appearance of the light-tinted brown eggs to that of darker brown eggs.