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Re: Shrimp Eggs
In Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #1063, Harold Wong <hgw at math_ucla.edu> wrote:
>Here's an odd question concerning Brine Shrimp. Anybody know how the
>eggs are harvested? Especially if you're getting them from salt lakes.
From description by David Kawahigashi (Director of Research, San Francisco
Bay Brand), the cysts form large floating rafts upon the surface of the lake
(and also in the various inlets of San Francisco Bay). There is fierce
competition to harvest the cysts so when a batch is sighted, the race is on
to get to it first and claim it. At that point, harvesting the cysts
procedes similar to cleaning up an oil spill complete with booms and
vacuuming up the cysts/water. When one of the collection vessels is full, it
transfers its cargo to shore and goes back out for more. The cysts are than
transported to a facility where they are rinsed of excess salt and dried.
Portions of each batch are then tested to determine hatching rate at which
point they are sorted in various grades with the worst grades being used for
flake foods or dencapsulated for use as a dry food in the aquaculture industry.
The above is a vast simplification of a portion of his 2 hour lecture, but
gives the basics fairly well. Also, the artemia native to San Francisco Bay
are a different species than those from the Great Salt Lake. I forget which
is the larger of the two though.
-- dj