CCAR Produces 10,000 Yellowtail for Acadia Harvest
62 days! That’s how long it took CCAR’s hatchery team to produce over 10,000 eight-gram California yellowtail seed fish for our industry partner, Acadia Harvest.
The CCAR is home to 100 yellowtail brood fish. These fish are well cared for and fed only the best diet. This ensures they produce eggs of the highest quality. Throughout the year, our yellowtail broodstock are subjected to a specific photoperiod and temperature regime that induces spawning behavior in the fish. Once the proper temperature and day length is reached, the fish spawn naturally in their tanks. At this point, the CCAR staff step in to collect the fertilized eggs. Fertilized yellowtail eggs are positively buoyant at a specific salinity, allowing our staff to gently skim the eggs from the surface of the tank. Once the eggs have been collected, they are counted and disinfected before moving into CCAR’s hatchery.
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Shortly after fertilization (about three days), the embryos are fully developed and the eggs hatch, leaving us to care for thousands of tiny yolksac larvae. The larvae use up their yolksac reserves within their first few days. After this, we step in to provide them with nutritious live prey on which to feed. These little guys must be fed a diet of enriched rotifers until they are large enough to graduate on to eating artemia. Eventually, around 20 days post hatch, they begin to wean onto a dry diet that is specially formulated for optimal growth. Once they are fully weaned, they can be moved out of the hatchery and into their grow-out system.
These fast growing fish will quickly reach market size with many of them making their way to sushi restaurants to be enjoyed as Hiramasa.
To learn more about Acadia Harvest, visit their website at: www.acadiaharvest.com