Biofouling, boring and predation of pearl oyster

Abstract

During the course of the experiments in pearl culture since 1972 in the Gulf of Mannar, several problems were encoimtered in the farm due to biofouling, boring and predation of oyster stocks. An account of fouling and boring organisms in the farm at Veppalodai was given by Alagarswami and Chellam (1976). Nishii (1961) and Nishii et al. (1961) indicated some relationship between the frequency of cleaning and growth of pearls in the Japanese waters. Wada (1973) reported that animals and seaweeds setting on the oysters and baskets inhibited the growth not only of the oysters but also of the pearls. The occurrence of polychaete and sponge borers on the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata and their control measures were given by Velayudhan (1983).