The e astern oyster (Crassostrea virginica ) is one of the primary shellfish species cultivated on the eastern coast of the United States. In addition to human consumption, the demand for eastern oysters is on the rise for environmental conservation and habitat restoration projects. To meet this growing demand oyster hatcheries have become more common and efforts are being made to maximize the number of juvenile oysters that can be produced. Manipulating temperature is the most common way that hatcheries are able to produce ripe broodstock for spawning outside of the natural season in an area. Some studies have looked at the combined effects of temperature and photoperiod. However, the individual effects of photoperiod on oyster condition have not been investigated .
This study will compare the effect of different light treatments on condition index in adult oysters . A dult oysters will divided randomly into three groups and held under different light:dark periods: 8:16, 16:8, and a progression from 8:16 to 16:8 hours . All oysters will be maintained in the same conditions of water quality and daily diet ration. T emperature will be maintained at 16°C for the duration of the experiment . The amount of feces produced, as a proxy for feeding activity, will be measured periodically. At multiple time points, oysters from each of the treatments will be sacrificed and their condition index will be analyzed. This poster will discuss the data from the experiments.