Phenotypic indicators for cultured pearl size improvement in the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera ): towards selection for the recipient growth performance

The black-lipped pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, is the most important farmed species in French Polynesia and the basis of the most valuable export industry. Mass production of black pearls relies on a surgical operation requiring tissue from a donor pearl oyster to be grafted, together with a nucleus made of shell, into the gonad of a recipient oyster. Improving pearl size through family selection remains one of the main challenges for future aquaculture development. This study analyses the relative contribution of donor and recipient oysters to pearl size. To this end, hatchery-produced donor oysters of two batches, large and small (based on shell height), were used to supply grafts for recipients, which were then monitored individually for their growth performance by recording shell height, width, and thickness, and total live weight (flesh+shells) every 6months (four biometric measurement times) over 20months of culture. Pearls issued from the two batches of donors showed no significant differences in nacre weight or thickness. In contrast, recipient oyster shell height and total weight were increasingly positively correlated with these pearl size parameters over the culture period, becoming significant at 8months post-grafting. Potential therefore exists to use shell height and oyster weight as phenotypic indicators for selective breeding of recipient oysters with high growth performance to increase pearl size in P.margaritifera.