By Dr. Hanping Wang
Senior Scientist
Yellow perch is one of the top three aquaculture species in the Midwest and North Central Region of the United States. Funded by a NOAA-Sea Grant, the Ohio Center for Aquaculture Research and Development (OCARD) at OSU South Centers has developed technology that enables us to produce commercial-scale, faster-growing, all-female yellow perch for the aquaculture industry.
This spring, OCARD produced around 70,000 all-female fry, and the monosex fingerling will be delivered to the aquaculture industry in early this summer for commercial use, demonstration, or technology transfer.
Yellow perch females grow significantly faster and larger than males. All-female monosex populations will significantly benefit the aquaculture industry. OCARD at Piketon has created a large number of neomale broodstock of yellow perch with a female genotype.
A growth performance test of the all-females vs. a mixed-sex group showed that all-females grew around 30% faster than the mixed group, and 66.0% faster than males. The large numbers of superior neo-male broodstock will enable us to produce commercial-scale, all-female monosex yellow perch for commercialization of the monosex production technology.
For more information about this fast-growing strain, you can contact Dr. Hanping Wang at wang.900@osu.edu.