64
A. V. Sykes et al.
4.4 1980s: The First Studies on Mass Culture
It was during this decade that methods for large-scale culture were investigated
and cephalopod culture technology reported rapidly increasing numbers. This boom
correlates with the establishment of the NRCC in 1975, which was a scientific programme supporting the mission of the Marine Biomedical Institute (MBI) of the
University of Texas Medical Branch. The NRCC was located in Galveston (50
miles south of Houston), with access to the Gulf of Mexico, and it established a 30year history of providing the biomedical research community with squid, cuttlefish
and other cephalopods for research. It had the capacity to maintain 1,000–2,500
adult cuttlefish, S� officinalis and S� pharaonis (122,000 L of water in five systems)
per year, 800 squid, S� lessoniana (98,000 L of water) per year, 10–40 Nautilus
pompilius (3,000 L of water) per year. In addition, this facility had the capacity to
maintain field-caught bay squid, L� brevis (1,000–2,000 adults year
−1
), the sepiolids
E� scolopes and E� tasmanica (200 adults year
−1
), O� bimaculoides (300 year
−1
) in
relatively small 500 L tanks. Giant Pacific octopuses were held in 3,500 L chilled
recirculating seawater display tanks. During this time, the NRCC was the only facility able to culture squids from egg to adulthood for multiple generations. Also, they
were able to provide cuttlefish and octopuses, as well as cells, tissues and organ systems to researchers without causing the trauma of mass harvesting, thus providing
excellent research animals while preserving the natural populations of cephalopods
in the oceans. A great contribution of the NRCC was performing numerous experiments on the development of culture technology with more than one cephalopod
species, making results applicable in a general sense to most cephalopods.
Boletzky and Hanlon (1983) reviewed the laboratory maintenance, rearing and
culture of several cephalopod species. In this article, the authors provided a standardization of terminology to be used while having cephalopods in captivity: maintenance—holding juvenile or adult cephalopods with no intention of growing them;
rearing—growing cephalopods through several life stages of a single generation;
and culture—growing a cephalopod from hatching until hatchlings of a consecutive
generation are obtained. The different sections of this work addressed technological limitations faced by those having a cephalopod in captivity as well as speciesspecific biological limitations to culture. In a general way, cephalopods need to be
handled carefully to avoid skin damage, require enough space for their benthonic
or nektonic mode of life, high-quality water and sufficient live food. Hanlon and
Hixon (1983) wrote a chapter on laboratory maintenance and culture of octopuses
and loliginid squids in Culture of Marine Invertebrates. In this work, the technology
described for O� joubini was set up as an example for the culture of other octopus
species, such as O� briareus (culture methods later described by Robaina (1983) and
Hanlon and Wolterding (1989)), O� maya and O� bimaculoides. The methods were
also described to have a possible application to O� vulgaris paralarvae. Information
on rearing methodologies for these and other species was given and included details
on seawater systems for several octopus and loliginid species. Two years later, Hanlon and Forsythe (1985) published the results of large-scale culture of five species
of octopuses that included the four octopus species already mentioned above and
A. V. Sykes et al.
4.4 1980s: The First Studies on Mass Culture
It was during this decade that methods for large-scale culture were investigated
and cephalopod culture technology reported rapidly increasing numbers. This boom
correlates with the establishment of the NRCC in 1975, which was a scientific programme supporting the mission of the Marine Biomedical Institute (MBI) of the
University of Texas Medical Branch. The NRCC was located in Galveston (50
miles south of Houston), with access to the Gulf of Mexico, and it established a 30year history of providing the biomedical research community with squid, cuttlefish
and other cephalopods for research. It had the capacity to maintain 1,000–2,500
adult cuttlefish, S� officinalis and S� pharaonis (122,000 L of water in five systems)
per year, 800 squid, S� lessoniana (98,000 L of water) per year, 10–40 Nautilus
pompilius (3,000 L of water) per year. In addition, this facility had the capacity to
maintain field-caught bay squid, L� brevis (1,000–2,000 adults year
−1
), the sepiolids
E� scolopes and E� tasmanica (200 adults year
−1
), O� bimaculoides (300 year
−1
) in
relatively small 500 L tanks. Giant Pacific octopuses were held in 3,500 L chilled
recirculating seawater display tanks. During this time, the NRCC was the only facility able to culture squids from egg to adulthood for multiple generations. Also, they
were able to provide cuttlefish and octopuses, as well as cells, tissues and organ systems to researchers without causing the trauma of mass harvesting, thus providing
excellent research animals while preserving the natural populations of cephalopods
in the oceans. A great contribution of the NRCC was performing numerous experiments on the development of culture technology with more than one cephalopod
species, making results applicable in a general sense to most cephalopods.
Boletzky and Hanlon (1983) reviewed the laboratory maintenance, rearing and
culture of several cephalopod species. In this article, the authors provided a standardization of terminology to be used while having cephalopods in captivity: maintenance—holding juvenile or adult cephalopods with no intention of growing them;
rearing—growing cephalopods through several life stages of a single generation;
and culture—growing a cephalopod from hatching until hatchlings of a consecutive
generation are obtained. The different sections of this work addressed technological limitations faced by those having a cephalopod in captivity as well as speciesspecific biological limitations to culture. In a general way, cephalopods need to be
handled carefully to avoid skin damage, require enough space for their benthonic
or nektonic mode of life, high-quality water and sufficient live food. Hanlon and
Hixon (1983) wrote a chapter on laboratory maintenance and culture of octopuses
and loliginid squids in Culture of Marine Invertebrates. In this work, the technology
described for O� joubini was set up as an example for the culture of other octopus
species, such as O� briareus (culture methods later described by Robaina (1983) and
Hanlon and Wolterding (1989)), O� maya and O� bimaculoides. The methods were
also described to have a possible application to O� vulgaris paralarvae. Information
on rearing methodologies for these and other species was given and included details
on seawater systems for several octopus and loliginid species. Two years later, Hanlon and Forsythe (1985) published the results of large-scale culture of five species
of octopuses that included the four octopus species already mentioned above and