Florida pompano

The distribution and intensity of hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen, DO) is increasing due to eutrophication and algal blooms in estuaries like those in the Gulf of Mexico and the Indian River Lagoon. The objective of this study is to determine how low DO affects the development and lipid utilization of the Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus) and Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Fertilized eggs were incubated in two DO hypoxia treatments: severe (20% DO saturation, 1.6 mg/L), moderate (50% DO saturation, 3.9 mg/L), and normoxia (100% DO saturation, 7.6 mg/L). Eggs and larvae were sampled at 24-hours post-fertilization to assess hatch survival, larval development, and fatty acid (FA) lipids utilization. Results suggest hypoxia significantly impacts Florida Pompano development, with polar FAs most affected, while Red Drum shows greater tolerance to low DO. These findings provide insight into early fish larval stages to improve conservation and management strategies for their recruitment.

Evidence that supplementation with prebiotics, probiotics, or combinations of both (synbiotics) enhances the health, growth, and survival of aquacultured teleosts has sparked significant research into their application. This study evaluates the effects of β-glucan and Pediococcus acidilactici synbiotic supplementation in aquacultured Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus).
The first study defined embryonic and larval organogenesis. The gastrointestinal tract is differentiated, but not yet fully functional within the first seven days post hatch evidenced by the absence of gastric glands, gastric mucous cells, lipid vacuoles in the anterior intestines, and the persistence of acidophilic supranuclear vesicles. Synbiotics may serve as a source of exogenous digestive enzymes prior to complete gastrointestinal maturation.
The second study investigated hematological, serum biochemical, and protein electrophoretic changes with and without β-glucan and P. acidilactici symbiotic supplementation. Significant decreases in blood urea nitrogen and carbon dioxide concentrations were observed in supplemented Florida pompano compared to controls and may represent enhanced mucosal tissue health, urea excretion, and osmoregulatory function associated with supplementation.

The goal of this project is to gain access to valuable genetic information that will be utilized to create a genetics-based selective breeding program. This selective breeding program will be implemented to produce and maintain a healthy and diverse breeding stock of the Florida Pompano Trachinotus carolinus. The Florida Pompano is a popular food fish found in abundance off Florida's east and west coasts. There has been interest in the aquaculture of this species for decades with minimal success. With recent improvements in aquaculture systems and nutrition, now is the time to bring this fish to commercialization. The main research objectives of this study are to create a bioinformatics workflow to generate a draft whole-genome of the Florida Pompano, identify variation sites within this genome, and run a comparative analysis with two closely related Trachinotus species, Permit T. falcatus and Palometa T. goodei. These two species were chosen because they are found in the same environment as the Florida Pompano but grow to substantially different sizes. To sequence and assemble the whole genome of the Florida Pompano, a hybrid method was applied using long and short-read sequencing technologies. The draft genome was found to be 733.5 Mb in length with a total of 26,891 protein-coding genes. Sites of variation within this assembled genome were identified using a 2b-RAD sequencing method on 62 individuals collected off Florida’s east and gulf coasts.

Florida Pompano Trachinotus carolinus are molluscivorous, greater than 70% of their natural diet consists of hard-shelled gastropods and bivalves. A specialized feeding mechanism (pharyngeal jaw) forms a crushing surface used to grind prey. In aquaculture, extruded pellets are fed and this feeding apparatus results in pellets fracturing and loss of fragments through their gill rakers. The effect of pellet form (hard vs. soft) and size on fractured pellet waste (FPW) and production characteristics of Pompano reared in recirculating aquaculture systems was addressed. No difference in FPW between the standard pellet size and smaller pellet size treatments. However, a difference in FPW at first feeding of the day between the hard and soft pellet treatments was observed, with no difference in FPW present at the last feeding. Results suggest that pellet size does not reduce the amount of FPW produced, while the use of soft pellets reduces the amount of FPW.