Larvae Lab Culture

World Record Set!

Over the past quarter century, the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, under the guidance of Dr. Jeffrey B. Marliave, has earned accolades from the zoological and research communities for it's first-time rearing of cold water marine species such as wolf-eels, pandalid shrimp and sculpins. There is little demand from hobbyists for cold water ornamentals due to the cost and complications of cold water maintenance, but public display institutions are primary consumers. To this end, the Vancouver Aquarium's breeding program has supplied such popular cold water ornamentals as wolf- eels, Pacific spiny lumpsuckers, and grunt and sailfin sculpins to aquarium facilities worldwide.

In 1997, the Aquarium cultured a record-breaking seven species which had never before been bred in a lab. No other institution had been able to accomplish this impressive feat. One species was a newly discovered shrimp species. Currator of BC Waters, Danny Kent, had discovered and collected the first two specimens, as well as the egg-bearing female which hatched the larvae that were reared in the lab. In recent years, culturing research at the Aquarium has centered on the dietary requirements of larval and juvenile fish.