Culture possibilities of the razor clam Ensis arcuatus (Pharidae: Bivalvia)

This study investigated razor clam Ensis arcuatus culture from larval rearing to commercial size to assess it's aquaculture potential. Broodstock was spawned several times in hatchery facilities to demonstrate that larval availability is not a constraint for hatchery production. Larval culture lasted 20 days, showing an average survival of 14.35%. The razor clam seed reached a size of 28.5 mm at 4 months. Seed culture is feasible; however, it is constrained by the fact that razor clams need to be buried. Higher survival was observed when culturing razor clam seed with a substrate (82-83%), irrespective of the substrate grain size, while containers held without a substrate showed a significantly lower survival (56.5%). We showed that it is possible to rear E. arcuatus juveniles in bottles, with survival as high as 94-95% being achieved. The length increase of the hatchery-produced E. arcuatus over 600 days was described by the equation Ln L = 4.5 +(-141.17/t), where L is length in mm and t is time in days. On-growing showed adequate survival rates and it took 2-3 years to reach commercial size.