An associate researcher at the Fisheries Research Institute’s Eastern Marine Biology Research Center has succeeded in artificially breeding the popular aquarium fish paracanthurus hepatus, or blue surgeonfish.
Ho Yuan-hsing said Aug. 18 he expects to complete the development of mass breeding technology by the end of next year and to begin selling the ornamental fish.
According to Ho, deterioration in the marine ecosystem has led to a significant drop in the number of blue surgeonfish in recent years. “Their food source algae, which grows on coral, has dwindled due to the steady decline in coral reefs caused by environmental degradation and harvesting,” Ho said.
Ho explained that he made his breakthrough in artificially breeding blue surgeonfish by finding live ciliate that the fish need to feed on when they are young in order to successfully grow to adulthood. After the fish reach a certain age, Ho said, he switches to feeding them algae, seaweed and other types of food they ingest in nature.
“We will now focus on researching the possibility of releasing the blue surgeonfish into their natural habitat in waters around Orchid Island to restore their numbers in the wild,” Ho added.
Ho said he expects the blue surgeonfish to contribute to Taiwan’s ornamental fish industry, especially when Taiwan has the propriety breeding technology.
“This will help boost our competitiveness in the global market,” Ho said, noting that the institute will work to breed powder blue tang and yellow tang, two other species of surgeonfish found in waters around Taiwan, but with smaller populations than blue surgeonfish.
Also, this will lead to less fishing for these types of surgeonfish in the wild, Ho said.
The Fisheries Research Institute has focused much effort in recent years on developing techniques for breeding ornamental fish in captivity, including the saddleback clownfish and red clownfish. (SB)