Fish Research Species

Here at Ocean Era we are proud of our research. We strive to discover innovative techniques to maximize ethical and sustainable production of food fish. We work with several different species that can be found locally throughout the Hawaiian Islands: the Grey Sea Chub (Nenue; Kyphosus vaigiensis), the Dolphinfish (Mahimahi; Coryphaena hippurus), and the Long-fin Amberjack (Kāhala; Seriola rivoliana).

**Hawaiian Name: Nenue**
Latin Name: *Kyphosus vaigiensis*

Grey sea chub

Nenue (Kyphosus vaigiensis) are an herbivorous fin-fish species found in nearshore reef systems. Due to their long ruminant-like guts, they are able to consume and sequester nutrients from different species of macroalgae. Nenue provide a unique opportunity for the cultivation and grow-out of food fish because of their herbivorous nature. Through feed research, Ocean Era has been able to produce market-size Nenue fed on a tilapia diet consisting of plant-based nutrients.

Additionally, we have successfully produced Nenue in our hatchery, growing them from eggs collected from our broodstock. They are a robust species that adapt fairly well to domesticated life, also making them an appealing fish for aquaculture production.

dolphinfish

Mahimahi (Coryphaena hippurus) are a pelagic fish species of high demand in the seafood industry. With local populations waning due to overfishing, it is of great importance to come up with a solution in order to offset the negative impacts this species is suffering. Through collaborative research, Ocean Era is striving to produce Mahimahi in a land-based setting.

We have been able to raise larval fish to adults and plan to further investigate the potential for this species to become commercially viable.

**Hawaiian Name: Mahimahi**
Latin Name: *Coryphaena hippurus*

Hawaiian Name: Kāhala
Latin Name: *Seriola rivoliana*

Long-fin amberjack

While genetically identical to wild Seriola rivoliana, known as Almaco Jack or Kāhala, farm-raised Kampachi is a distinctly wonderful fish. Hatched from eggs in a shoreside facility and transferred to the open ocean as fingerlings, Kampachi are carefully nurtured through every stage of their life cycle. The high-quality diets and innovative culture methods used at Ocean Era result in one of the tastiest, most versatile, and healthiest fish available.

Additionally, due to their being fed a sustainable low-fishmeal diet and raised in some of the cleanest water on Earth, Hawaii-grown Kampachi are free of detectable levels of Mercury and PCB's, and completely free of internal parasites. We are currently focusing on feed-trial based research to optimize low-fishmeal diet formulations to produce healthy and well-nourished fish.

Green Snapper

Uku inhabit reef slopes, seamounts and banks from shallow waters to 200 fathoms. These fish serve an important role in Hawai’i’s bottom fish fishery. Once annual catch limits have been reached for the more popular bottom fish, Uku sustain the commercial fishery operations due to the fact of having no catch limits. This stress and market demand has sparked our interest for use in our hatchery and aquaculture research.