Divers released calcein-tagged oyster larvae onto all three shell bag reefs. To test the calcein dye technique, NCCOS scientists deployed three sets of 32 shell bags in mid-July 2019 onto a Chesapeake Bay oyster sanctuary adjacent to Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, in Oxford, Maryland. Tagging of the shell will allow aquaculturists, health officials, and enforcement agencies the ability to positively re-identify marked oysters. Not only will this technology support oyster restoration strategies, but it also has implications for oyster poachers. This calcein dye “tag” will glow under special light, and can persist for several months as the larvae settles and grows into a juvenile oyster. The dye, an Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD) in the Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership (AADAP) program, acts as a tag once laid down in the oyster shell. NCCOS scientist Jason Spires recently developed a mechanism to mark late stage oyster larvae by placing them in a calcein (fluorescent dye) bath prior to release. One challenge of this new method is determining whether the spat (juvenile oysters) settling on the open water reef are actually the result of the released larvae, or if they are from naturally occurring larvae in the water column. Fluorescing spat with calcein marker confirm spat found are from the tagged larvae released directly into water column.
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