Swarming around Shellfish Larvae

: The collection of wild larvae seed as a source of raw material is a major sub industry of shellfish aquaculture. To predict when, where and in what quantities wild seed will be available, it is necessary to track the appearance and growth of planktonic larvae. One of the most difficult groups to identify, particularly at the species level are the Bivalvia. This difficulty arises from the fact that fundamentally all bivalve larvae have a similar shape and colour. Identification based on gross morphological appearance is limited by the time-consuming nature of the microscopic examination and by the limited availability of expertise in this field. Molecular and immunological methods are also being studied. We describe the application of computational pattern recognition methods to the automated identification and size analysis of scallop larvae. For identification, the shape features used are binary invariant moments; that is, the features are invariant to shift (position within the ima...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2004
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Vitorino Ramos, Jonathan Campbell, John Slater, John Gillespie, Ivan F. Bendezu, Fionn Murtagh
• Keywords: CORR 2004, Education, Gross Morphological Appearance, Larvae, Wild Larvae Seed