Seasonal Evolution of Gonadal Maturation, Gamete Quality, And Fertilizability of Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea Gigas) on the Western Mediterranean Coast (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION The development of reproductive technologies in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) requires gamete availability, but the reproductive seasonality of the species (Utting & Millican 1997) limits this. The problem can be avoided by subjecting oysters to artificial conditioning in a controlled area. This option makes it possible to obtain gametes regularly (almost) all year round (Chaez-Villalba et al. 2002), but oyster conditioning requires high water volumes and renewal rates (Utting & Millican 1997, Helm & Bourne 2004), with seawater availability/proximity and quality as another important limitation. Moreover, the artificial feeding of oysters during their conditioning period becomes one of the major costs (Helm & Bourne 2004).