Domestication modifies behaviour of first generation of domesticated abalone

The domestication of Haliotis tuberculata began recently. During this domestication process, abalone may acquire behavioural and physiological traits to become more adapted to their captive environment. These modifications could be the result of intentional selection on production traits, or of unintentional selection due to specific conditions experienced in the farm environment. In order to study this process, progenies of 3 different broodstock origins were studied. Wild abalone, farmed abalone selected for faster growth at 5% selection pressure and randomly selected farmed abalone were used as broodstock. Farmed abalone were the third generation of abalone resulting from systematic mating between wild and farmed broodstock (either males or females were wild broodstock), without intentional selection. Spawning was induced at 4 different periods, with different broodstock individuals used in the 3 treatments each time. After a 16 month rearing in individual tanks for each spawning (n= 12 tanks in total), offspring from the 3 progenies were individually tagged and placed together in sea‐cages at a density of 75 abalone per cage. Three replicates were used for each spawning period. At the age of 3 years in June 2017, mortality, growth, gonadic development, immune status (phagocytosis efficiency and total haemocyte count) as well as abalone behaviour in different situations (circadian, righting, predator and hiding behaviour) were studied. No differences were observed in term of survival, growth and physiological traits between the 3 progenies. Behavioural and dissection measures are still being analysed. These results suggest that the first stages of selection of H. tuberculata did not induce a significant modification of growth and physiology. Further behavioural analysis will be conducted to confirm this lack of effect.

How to cite
Roussel Sabine, Bish Thomas, Day Rob, Boudry Pierre, Huchette Sylvain, Lambert Christophe, Lachambre Sébastien (2017). Domestication modifies behaviour of first generation of domesticated abalone. Physiomar 17. 18-21 September 2017, Cambridge, UK. https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00404/51546/

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