Reproduction trials under experimental conditions of Mediterranean abalone (Haliotis tuberculata, L. 1758)

The aim of this paper is to show early results obtained during reproduction trials of Haliotis tuberculata under experimental conditions. Laboratory experiments were carried out at the CISS of the University of Messina (Italy). Two hundred adult abalones were collected, separated by sex and put in 20-litre tanks. In order to induce spawning, temperature was gradually increased. Cultures of eggs and sperm were allowed to develop for 4 h. The egg fertilisation, the formation of trocophora as well as the evolution of such larval stage in veliger were achieved. The adhesion to substrate remains up to now to be optimised. The success in obtaining the earlier stages of the life cycle of H. tuberculata is important considering the possible economic effects due to the industrialisation of the production process of this species.