The status of spotted wolffish, Anarhichas minor: A commercially ready species for U.S. marine aquaculture?

Abstract

The requirements to rear spotted wolffish, Anarhichas minor, a cold water, demersal fish, native to the north Atlantic Ocean, have been developed over the past 25 years (since 1990s) and it now is commercially produced in one fish farm in Norway with additional plans for commercial development in the near future in Quebec, Canada. Spotted wolffish have numerous attributes that make them a desirable species to culture in the United States including, but not limited to: having a high value; desired by consumers and chefs; not supplied by U.S. or Canadian fisheries; an established broodstock available in neighboring Quebec; well-developed hatchlings that do not require live feed; high rearing density tolerance; and low disease susceptibility.Here, we review the advancements made in broodstock management and spawning, egg incubation, juvenile rearing, and on-growing of fish, as well as future research and development needs. Areas requiring further focus include reducing variability in gamete production; nutritional studies at all life stages; health expertise; genetic selection; and further refinement of standard operating procedures at the commercial level for all life-stages. Given the state of advancement of wolffish cultivation and the existence of a

Spotted Wolffish Broodstock Management and Egg Production: Retrospective, Current Status, and Research Priorities

“…At this stage of development, data on diseases and parasites that are of concern to spotted wolffish aquaculture are rather scarce. In accordance with reports emanating from the Norwegian spotted wolffish farming activities, early investigations, and surveillance programs, this species can be considered robust with a low mortality rate, displaying low susceptibility to disease in comparison to other novel farmed marine fish species [8]. However, the forthcoming development of wolffish aquaculture in Europe and North America and the expected level of aquaculture production targeted by governmental agencies and the private sector will likely stimulate the emergence of clinical health expertise to cope with inevitable health challenges.…”

“…Few reviews on spotted wolffish aquaculture R&D are available [1,2,8]. In the present work, we focused on broodstock management and egg production since these are considered the areas that most limit further expansion of commercial operations.…”

“…Kime and Tveiten [25] present some arguments in favor of external fertilization and insemination, such as the absence of an evident anatomical adaptation to deliver the sperm in the female genital pore. Nonetheless, all the remaining literature [2,8,26] points toward probable internal insemination and subsequent internal fertilization as is the case for the Atlantic wolffish [27] (see video footage. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= WLu_pB4BYjM (accessed on 24 September 2021)).…”

“…In Québec, Canada, the establishment of a captive longlined wild-caught broodstock population, originating mostly from Baugé Bank near Anticosti Island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (Québec, Canada), was very successful in providing the means to initiate numerous applied studies over the years and produced an entirely genotyped domesticated population. They were held at the CAMGR and Maurice Lamontagne facilities for numerous years before being shared with other stakeholders and research institutions in 2018 [8]. The findings presented below were implemented following subsequent collections of wild broodstock by Norwegian and Canadian groups (for research and commercial interests).…”

“…Exceedingly high fish stocking density frequently leads to injuries (external and internal), aggression, behavioral changes, and disease outbreaks [52]. Nonetheless, the tolerance to the high rearing density of the spotted wolffish is a major reason for its popularity as an emerging species for aquaculture diversification [2][3][4]8]. For flatfish and wolffish, rearing densities are commonly expressed in kg•m −2 instead of kg•m −3 since they occupy the tank bottoms and not the water column.…”