Press Release
September 17, 2009
IncorporatedAdministrative Agency, Fisheries Research Agency
Glucose injection cheer up the sea productions?
Supplementing glucose into water enhances the growth of Manila clam juvenile
The Fisheries Research Agency has discovered that the growth of Ruditapes philippinarum in
aquaculture is accelerated by about 30% by adding glucose besides particulate diet to the sea water.
Glucose is given not
as a main dish for the clams but as a nutritional supplement and improves the
nutritional state of the clams.
It was also observed that immersing clams
in
glucose-supplemented water
for 24 hours
increased the succinate content in the clam body by 2.8 times and the total organic acid content by 1.5
times. Succinate is famous as a compound that gives taste and flavor.
In 1909, Pűtter hypothesized that most marine invertebrates, including clams, can incorporate
dissolved forrm of nutrients
through their epidermal uptake system besides particulate diets through
the ordinary ingesting system . However, the acutual beneficial effects such as growth promotion of
the epidermal uptake system have not been demonstrated for over a 100 years.
The discovery will enable the culture period of R. philippinarum spat to be shortened and help the
cost down for mass preparation of seed clams for stock enhancement management.
expected to improve the survival rate of R. philippinarum larvae
It is also
which is the major problem in the
present mass culturing system .
The present observation also suggests a different application to enhance the tasty value of the clams of
commercial size by immersing them in glucose-supplemented water for a short time just before
cooking .
Following this discovery, a patent application has been made for a technology for growing tasty R.
philippinarum efficiently . The details will be soon published in Aquaculture (in press, 2010, Elsevier,
Ireland).
For more information, call the Fisheries Research Agency at:
TEL: 045-227-2621
Public Relations Section, General Planning and Coordination Department, Headquarters
Motoharu Uchida TEL: 0829-55-0666
Coastal Productivity and Environment Division, National Research Institute of Fisheries and
Environment of Inland Sea
15F Queen’s Tower B, 2-3-3 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-6115
TEL: 045-227-2600
FAX: 045-227-2700
http://www.fra.affrc.go.jp/