Lessons on broodstock maintenance,spawning, larval rearing and juvenile production of marine gastropods of ornamental value

Research on marine gastropod breeding in India is in its infancy and scanty literature is only available. To fill the lacunae, marine gastropods of three ornamentally valued and conservation important groups such as Cyprids, Strombids and Muricids were held under captivity and studied for their broodstock maintenance, spawning behaviour, larval rearing and metamorphosis into juveniles at the Shellfish Hatchery of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tuticorin. Valuable information on the focal themes of the article was obtained for Strombids and Muricids leading to the successful life cycle closing for Lambis lambis and Chicoreus virgineus are reported earlier. In the present study, experiments were conducted on aspects such as post‐metamorphosed juvenile rearing up to 76 days post hatch for L. lambis, spawning, larval development and life cycle closing and reasonable level of juvenile production (8.8%) for Chicoreus ramosus. In addition, the primary observations on the captive breeding of Cypraea tigris with reference to its egg mass, brooding habit and early development is reported. However, while studying these groups few unanswered questions and bottle necks in their breeding nature, larval rearing and metamorphosis arose. The following account details the experiments conducted and results obtained in each of the focal themes of the paper and the constraints faced.