Octopus maya

Abstract

Octopus maya culture is being developed at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México at pilot scale. A closed culture system of O. maya is operating at out of Yucatán facilities, in Sisal. Adult O. maya were obtained after 7 months of culture. O. maya broodstock is renewed every year with adults from the wild population. Spawns are artificially incubated at 25 °C during 45–50 days. Hatchlings pass through a post-embryonic phase that lasts approximately 10 days until they reach the juvenile stage. During the first 15 days after hatch, territorialism and cannibalism are absent and animals practically do not grow. After that age, increments on ingested food are observed together with an exponential growth rate. The culture system has been organized in two steps: (1) ongrowing of hatchlings and (2) ongrowing of juveniles. In the first step, hatchlings are cultured in indoor 7.5 m² tanks at a density of 50–60 individuals m^− 2 for 60 days. During this time, every 20 days animals are weighed and separated according to size to avoid cannibalism. At this phase, survival varies between 75 and 80 %. The juvenile ongrowing phase occurs in outdoor 6 m diameter tanks where juveniles are maintained at a density of 10–25 individuals m^− 2, depending on whether a semi-intensive or intensive culture is applied. Juveniles are cropped when they reach between 80 and 150 g in wet weight (WW), and are sold to the gourmet market. Detailed seawater characteristics and other useful data are included in the present chapter in an attempt to offer an overview of O. maya culture.