Aquaculture of brine shrimp

The cysts may be stored for long periods and hatched on demand to provide a convenient form of live feed for larval fish and crustaceans.

Cultured brine shrimp can also be fed particulate foods including yeast, wheat flour, soybean powder or egg yolk.

While in extreme conditions, such as low oxygen level or salinity above 150‰, female brine shrimp produce eggs with a chorion coating which has a brown colour.

These eggs, also known as cysts, are metabolically inactive and can remain in total stasis for two years while in dry oxygen-free conditions, even at temperatures below freezing.

Since these components are critical for the larvae development, it is common practice to feed this live prey with emulsions of marine oils that are rich in the EPA and DHA, which is referred as enrichment processes.

[8] Although hatchery processes of brine shrimp are relative simple and easy to operate, a series of factors need to be controlled and monitored to make optimal use of the cysts.

The critical factors are light, temperature, salinity, oxygen level, pH and cyst density, which vary between different brine shrimp strains.