Pustaka Ilmiah Universitas Padjadjaran

Abstrak

Nacre growth and thickness of Akoya pearls from Japanese and Hybrid Pinctada fucata in response to the aquaculture temperature condition in Ago Bay, Japan

This study examines whole nacre thickness and monthly growth of pearls of Akoya pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata, which came from Japanese and hybrid strains and relate them to the water temperature of the aquaculture site in Ago Bay. Whole nacre thickness of the pearls was signi?cantly di?erent between Japanese and Hybrid strains (Student’s t-test, p-value < 0.01), pearls of Japanese strain tend to be thicker than those of Hybrids. This is due to di?erent nacre growth rate between the two strains especially in summer, Japanese strain grew faster than Hybrid in August until November (Student's t-test, p-value < 0.01), even though there was no signi?cant di?erence in December when both strains showed very slow growth of pearl nacre due to the low water temperature. Monthly nacre tablet thickness of pearls of Japanese strain was thicker than that of Hybrid in August, September and November (Student's t-test, p-value < 0.01) but no significant di?erence in November and December. The result of this study shows that pearl nacre growth and thickness are related to the water temperature of the aquaculture site. The fact that both oysters have di?erent range of optimum temperature to grow leads to the possibility of diferent quality of pearls from both strains since whole nacre thickness, nacre growth and nacre tablet thickness can determine the quality of pearls. Statement of relevance: The ?ndings of this study will redound to the benefit of commercial aquaculture of pearl oyster in the world generally, and in Japan especially considering that cultured pearl is one of the important aquaculture products in Japan and some other Countries.