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| This is your Captain speaking. Welcome aboard the USS GoPro. Today we'll be cruising at a maximum depth of approximately one meter as we tour FC's recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Secure all hatches. Prepare to dive. DIVE! |
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| Don't be alarmed at the giant freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) peering into your porthole. Though they are aggressive predators, you are safe inside the USS GoPro. |
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| Here we are cruising at mid-depth to get a look at prawns using the artificial reef. These panels of plastic mesh give the prawns more habitat within the shrimp farm. This allows them to spread out and not crowd together. Crowding equals cannibalism with giant prawns. If this were a night dive, we would see the mesh panels covered with hundreds of prawns. |
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| Cruising along the tank wall allows us to see how the young giant prawns use the this substrate also. The sides sport a healthy growth of algae which the prawns constantly prune. These prawns were born in the spring of 2012. They were all uniformly sized, about 2 cm long when they arrived as postlarvae back in early May. There is quite a wide range in growth rates, but the average is probably about 7 cm. The biggest are around 10 cm. |
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| Thank you for diving aboard the USS GoPro today. Below is the video ship's log. |
6 comments:
Don't think my first comment went through -how's Pablo?
I think that is so funny. I wonder if that is how we look to the aliens. We saw five or six people with those go pro cameras at Rainbow Springs. Looked like fun.
Heather,
Sadly, Pablo Prawn did not survive the summer. He was 2+ years old and that is up there for a shrimp. The kids have a new classroom. pet prawn named "Mr.Smith ".
Cathy,
They are a blast and I keep thinking of new things to do with it! I hope your weather isn't too bad with Isaac.
Excellent post!
If I tried to do that with my lake, all I could talk about was how you couldn't see anything because of the murk.
Lovely post. Great photos too!
Best wishes, Alex.
ya' jes' have too much fun, FC.
No storm woes? Thas a good piece 'o luck.
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