Nick King shows us mussel larvae.
What is a hatchery exactly? This morning at a convenience store I chatted with the cashier about our program for the day. When I got to the part about the hatchery, he asked, “Is that like in chickens?” Made me feel better that I hadn’t heard of the term either.
What I anticipated to be a long, dry hour discussing shellfish turned out to be really interesting. Just like in teaching – when the scientist is excited about his job, it becomes contagious. After an introduction to the fishing industry of New Zealand on an incredibly picturesque beach, we ventured into the lab areas. In the first, we saw how special algae are cultivated to feed the shellfish in the delicate larvae stages. The room looked like something out of Jurassic Park with floor to ceiling bags filled with algae fluid. We then were shown mussels in the larvae stage under a microscope. They were 1-2 weeks old and just starting to swim. Then, the mussels are put into these giant, pointed plastic test tube-looking things until they become spats. A spat is a shellfish that loses its swimming organ. Once this happens, they’re not so delicate and can eat algae that are grown in large outdoor pools. The water with the algae is pumped in and the water with the shellfish waste is pumped back out to grow the algae. There are hoses and tubes running all along the ceilings.
I hope most of you read this through to the end. Just my fascination with animal science coming out! The rest of the day was a long drive to Kaikoura where we saw a seal colony on the way. Tomorrow is a whale watching trip and a long drive to Christchurch – our final stop on the New Zealand adventure.
