Abstract
Artificial breeding of freshwater pearl mussels is widely used to improve the yield of pearl culture. All phases of the production cycle, including collection and culture of the broodstock, release of the glochidia, provision of the host fish for glochidia to attach to, and collection of mussel seeds, can be controlled artificially. The advantages of artificial breeding are that it can help to produce high quality pearls and improve the genetic quality of pearl mussels. Collected mussel seed are transferred from holding jars into small 200 µm mesh baskets (10 cm diameter x 5 cm). Each basket was supplied individually with 0.1-0.2 L of water per minute. When the mussels' shell length reaches over 10 cm, they can be operated to culture pearl. After post-operative care the implanted mussels are stocked in ponds. The mussels are kept in nylon bags (2 mussels per bag) and are hung from bamboo or PVC pipes and placed in ponds at 1 m depth. Periodical checking of mussels, with removal of dead ones and cleaning of bags, is required throughout the culture period of 12-18 months.