Raising squid in aquaculture has been a challenge that researchers have tried to address for many decades without meaningful success. Squid are highly sensitive to changes in water flow, are vulnerable to disease, have complex life cycles and hard-to-meet food preferences, and can become aggressive towards each other, all of which make them difficult to rear. At the same time, the population of wild squid is plummeting due to overfishing and climate change, and in Japan alone, it’s estimated that the population of wild squid is just 10% compared to the 1980s. Amidst this situation, in 2022, a team of researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) has managed to create the most efficient cephalopod aquaculture system for research to date. With this system, they have managed to rear 10 successive generations of squid, an unparalleled achievement in the field. And now, a serious threat has been identified and removed — or more accurately, treated. OIST researchers have recently discovered a new species of parasitic copepod, which was responsible for the death of a large proportion of squid eggs in the tanks, and they have also developed an eco-friendly treatment of these parasites. Their findings have now been published in Scientific Reports. ‘Disease management is the most important aspect of aquaculture’ says co-author Dr. Zdenek Lajbner from the Physics and Biology Unit at OIST, led by Professor Jonathan Miller. Dr. Lajbner has been instrumental in the creation of the squid aquaculture program at OIST. ‘And I’m glad to see that we have managed to eliminate a serious threat to the health of squids.’
