Towards a sustainable development of pearl oyster culture in French Polynesia

国際共同シンポジウム: International Joint Symposium: Tropical Island Ecosystems and Sustainable Development (Moorea, French Polynesia), DATE:December 2-7, 2006, PLACE: Moorea, French Polynesia, CO-SPONSORS: Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE) / Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station (University of California Berkeley) / 21st COE Program of University of the Ryukyu

Integrated management of pearl culture in French Polynesia in the context of global change: synopsis of existing results

International audienceThe paper presents a state of the art on knowledge of the black pearl oyster aquaculture at the scale of french Polynesia. lt also introduces the main results obtained throughout the multi-partners POLYPERL project. The goal of this project was to develop an integrated and participative action-research of thepearl oyster culture system, focusing on the envirorunental, technological, economical and societal dimensions impacting the industry. The research proposed ranges from the undentanding of biological phenomena of the production system to socio-economic aspects and governance of the industry,taking into account the management of anthropogenic, climate and health risks. we lntroduce here the different papers from the POLYPERL project that are compiled in this volume of ECSS dealing with recent scientific work that can contribute to sustainability of the pearl industry ln French Polynesia

Natural cleaning of the black-lip pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera bybutterflyfishes (Chaetodon) in French Polynesia

International audienceBiofouling increases the operational and economic costs associated with pearl production. As currentprocedures for reducing oyster biofouling can be detrimental to survival and growth and may pollute thesurrounding environment developing alternative, biologically-mediated, methods could potentially in-crease both production and ecological sustainability. With this in mind, the present study investigatednatural cleaning of black-lipped pearl oysters, Pinctada margaritifera, by butterflyfishes (Chaetodon). Thefeeding behaviour of six butterflyfish species was examined at Rangiroa Atoll, French Polynesia: Chae-todon auriga, Chaetodon citrinellus, Chaetodon ephippium, Chaetodon lunulatus, Chaetodon trifascialis andChaetodon ulietensis. All species cleaned the surface of pearl oysters by removing epibionts (from 16% to40% of total biomass), although dietary variation may explain different cleaning efficiencies. Generalistomnivores (C. auriga, C. citrinellus, C. ephippium and C. ulietensis) were the most efficient cleaners (%cleaning range: 26e40% of total biomass). Within this group, C. ephippium removed the most biomass(average of 41%) targeting algae and anemones. However, C. auriga targeted the most diverse range ofepibionts, removing significant amounts of algae, sponges, tunicates, and anemones. These resultssuggest that foraging by butterflyfishes can substantially reduce biofouling on economically-importanttropical bivalves

Synchrotron-Based HR-Fluorescence and Mineralogical Mapping of the Initial Growth Stages of Polynesian Cultivated Pearls Disprove the ‘Reversed Shell’ Concept

In a series of Polynesian pearls collected after short cultivation periods, early post-grafting mineral deposits were characterized by high resolution synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence with unprecedented accuracy. Morphological patterns and elemental composition are correlated through simultaneous imaging processes. Evidence that aragonite and calcite occur in neighboring units during the earliest biomineralization stages reveals that the grafting process can result in a greater degradation than usually admitted in the widely shared ‘reversed shell’ concept. Compared with ultrastructure of the pristine nacreous tablets, this method enables a precise evaluation of the possible biological changes in the biomineralization mechanism during grafting

Strong genetic isolation of the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) in the Marquesas archipelago (French Polynesia)

The French Polynesian islands are internationally known for their black pearls, produced by culture of the black lipped pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera. The ongoing development of hatcheries for P. margaritifera in French Polynesia poses new challenges for the industry, particularly regarding the maintenance of genetic diversity in the hatchery stocks. This emphasizes the necessity to characterize the genetic diversity and differentiation within natural and exploited populations, to carefully select putative parental populations. The present study aimed at validating the phylogenetic status and investigating genetic attributes of populations from the only two non-exploited archipelagos of French Polynesia, the Marquesas archipelago, and the Australes archipelago, never analysed before. We found that individuals from both archipelagos belonged to P. margaritifera species. However, while the Australes population was genetically similar to non-exploited populations of the Tuamotu, the Marquesas populations were highly differentiated from the rest of the populations. This differentiation cannot not be only attributed to geographic distance and aquaculture status, but likely to hydrodynamic barriers allowing vicariant events to take place. Our results add up to other studies describing the Marquesas archipelago as a hotspot for biodiversity and differentiation, with some of the highest levels of endemism and vicariance found among marine species worldwide and provide precious information on available genetic resources for the implementation of P. margaritifera selective breeding and its genetic conservation in French Polynesia

Family effect on cultured pearl quality in black-lipped pearl oyster

Individual Pinctada margaritifera molluscs were collected from the Takapoto atoll (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) and used to produce ten first generation full-sib families in a hatchery system, following artificial breeding protocols. After three years of culture, these progenies were transferred to Rangiroa atoll (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia) and tested for their potential as graft donors. A large-scale grafting experiment of 1500 grafts was conducted, in which a single professional grafter used ten individual donor oysters from each of the ten families, grafting 15 recipient oysters from each donor. The recipient oysters were all obtained from wild spat collection in Ahe (Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia). After 18 months of culture, 874 pearls were harvested. Highly significant donor family effects were found for nucleus retention, nacre thickness, nacre weight, pearl colour darkness and visually-perceived colour (bodycolor and overtone), pearl shape categories, surface defects and lustre, the last two of which are components of the Tahitian classification grade. No significant difference was recorded between the ten G1 families for the absence or presence of rings. The progenies could be ranked from “best” (i.e., the donor whose grafts produced the greatest number of grade A pearls) to the “worst”. Some progenies had extreme characteristics: family B presented the greatest number of pearls with lustre (98%) and a high proportion of dark gray to black with green overtone pearls (70%). These results have important implications for the selective breeding of donor pearl oysters: it may be possible to reach a point where specific donor lines whose grafts produce pearls with specific quality traits could be identified and maintained as specific breeding lines

Non-spherical pearl layers in the Polynesian ‘black-lipped’ Pinctada margaritifera: The non-nacreous deposits compared to microstructure of the shell growing edge

International audienceCultivated pearls frequently exhibit morphological irregularities making obvious that mineral deposition was irregularly distributed onto nucleus surface. Taking advantage of experimental cultivations with short durations (from 10 days to few months), these irregular deposits predating occurrence of the nacre were investigated in Polynesian pearls by biochemical characterizations and a series of physical methods. Diversity in the resulting data suggests that various in‐depth alterations of the biomineralization mechanism may have occurred during the grafting process, leading to diversity in the biochemical pathways to nacreous deposition. This allows a precise discussion of current views about pearl formation. The “reversed shell theory” is formally disproved through point to point comparison with development of the shell growing edge. Similarity of pearl formation with “regeneration” or “shell repair” is also discussed, emphasizing the differences between these concepts

Effect of electrolysis treatment on the biomineralization capacities of pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera juveniles

International audienceThe present study investigated the effect of electrolysis on the biomineralization capacities of juveniles of the mollusk Pinctada argaritifera for the first time. Size-selected individuals from two groups, “Medium” and “Large”, from a multi-parental family produced in a hatchery system were subjected to electrolysis under a low voltage current over a nine-week experimental period. The growth of the juveniles was individually monitored and assessed weekly by wet weight and shell height measurements. At the end of the experiment, mantle tissue was sampled for biomineralization-related gene expression analysis. Electrolysis significantly increased pearl oyster growth in terms of shell height and wet weight for Large juveniles from the 5th and the 2nd week, respectively, until the end of the experiment. However, differences were only significant for Medium individuals from the 7th week for shell height and from the 9th week for wet weight. Furthermore, transcriptional analysis of six known biomineralization genes coding for shell matrix proteins of calcitic prisms and/or nacreous shell structures revealed that five were significantly overexpressed in the mantle mineralizing tissue under electrolysis: three in common between the two size class groups and two that were expressed exclusively in one or the other group. Finally, we found no statistical difference of the shell thickness ratio between individuals undergoing electrolysis and control conditions. Taken together, our results indicate, for the first time in a calcifying marine organism, that electrolysis influences molecular mechanisms involved in biomineralization and may stimulate some parameters of pearl oyster growth rate

Non-spherical pearl layers in the Polynesian ‘black-lipped’ Pinctada margaritifera: The non-nacreous deposits compared to microstructure of the shell growing edge

International audienc