The polyculture of shrimp and the chame fish is relevant because of the importance of these species at national level. (Photo: file / FIS)

Technology promoted for farming freshwater shrimp and Pacific fat sleeper

MEXICO
Monday, November 19, 2018, 08:10 (GMT + 9)

Some thirty national researchers, among them from the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), were invited to promote the technology of freshwater shrimp (jackal) and Pacific fat sleeper (or puyeque), native species of the Pacific that could be an economic and consumer option among inhabitants of the Mexican coasts.

Chame fish, Dormitator latifrons. (Photo: Stock File)

These species are Macrobrachium tenellum (shrimp) and Dormitator latifrons (the fish), which have gone unnoticed for fishing and commercial farming despite their good taste and being rich in nutrients, according to University Centre studies of the Coast (CUCosta).

The shrimp Macrobrachium tenellum is a lagoon benthic crustacean whose distribution is known from Baja California, Mexico, to Paita, Peru.

Macrobrachium tenellum shrimp in adult stage. (Photo: Stock File)

The Pacific fat sleeper is little valued by fishermen because of its shape and colour; they use it as bait and let it die after capturing other organisms, said researcher Fernando Vega Villasante.

For this reason, the CUCosta, whose headquarters are in Puerto Vallarta, this month held the first National Scientific-Technical Meeting on Macrobrachium tenellum and Dormitator latifrons, with the aim of discussing advances and technological knowledge to farm these species.

Vega Villasante, Head of the Laboratory of Water Quality and Experimental Aquaculture, of the Department of Biological Sciences, said that scientific projects lack insight into both organisms, especially into how to to produce specimens in the laboratory in order to obtain the seed without having to take the animals from the environment. Part of the goal of this study is to take advantage of native species, so as not to introduce exotic species.

The work consists in closing the biological cycle, that is, collecting wild reproducers from the environment, carrying out the reproduction in the laboratory, obtaining the offspring of these organisms and maintaining them until they reach adulthood, to obtain their offspring and stop depending on animals from the wild for the production of larvae or offspring for harvests, explained Villasante.

According to the CUCosta, the Pacific fat sleeper has higher yield than tilapia and is as nutritious as this fish, catfish or salmon.

The polyculture of fish and prawn is a common practice in some countries. (Photo: Stock File)

"We did protein studies of this organism at the biochemical level and we are very surprised because it gathers almost all the essential amino acids for the nutrition of the human being. It would be an excellent source of protein, easily accessible and affordable for riverine communities," he said.

The forum, which took place with the support of the UdeG and the National Council of Science and Technology, was attended by leaders of research groups of the UNAM; of the University of Colima; of the autonomous communities of Sinaloa and Juárez de Tabasco; from the National Polytechnic Institute and the Biological Research Centre of the Northwest, as well as from the Federal University of Pará, in Brazil, and the University of Costa Rica.

Source: University of Guadalajara

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