Sex Control in Shrimp and Prawn Aquaculture

Category: AgricultureBiology and Medicine

Reference Number: 00211

Description

A novel approach to isolate the Androgenic sex hormone (AH) from the crustacean freshwater prawn and marine shrimp using in vitro glandular secretion of the AH from AH-producing Androgenic glands. Yields in commercially important, female-superior, sexually dimorphic shrimp can be dramatically improved by using all-female population (reaching 20%-30% larger body size than males) generated by mating normal genetic females with genetic females that have been "sex-reversed" into "neomales." The latter have been produced by the inventors by implanting the AH producing Androgenic glands, responsible for male development, into immature genetic females. The same has also been accomplished by immersing the immature genetic females into an AH solution.

Applications

|Shrimp and Prawn culture

Main Advantages

All-female prawn and shrimp populations that reach 20%-30% larger body size than males

Inventor(s)

Spencer R. Malecha, Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences
Piera S. Sun, Pacific Biomedical Research Center

Contact Information

For licensing information, please contact Lisa Matsunaga at matsunag@hawaii.edu

For all other inquiries, please write to:

Office of Technology Transfer & Economic Development
University of Hawai’i
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822