Aquaculture Definition of Terms Flashcards
A water volume equivalent to one surface acre with a depth of one foot; equal to 325,850 gallons or approximately 2, 718, 000 pounds water
Acre-foot
The mixing of air and water by wind action, or by air forced through water, generally refers to a process by which oxygen is added to water
Aeration
The gases surrounding the earth; consists of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and minute quantities of helium, krypton, neon, and xenon, plus water vapor.
Air
A high density or rapid increase in abundance of algae
Algae bloom
The ability of mineral solution to neutralize hydrogen ions; usually expressed as equivalents of calcium carbonate.
Alkalinity
The gas NH3 highly soluble in water. Ionized ammonia (NH4+) is relatively non-toxic to fish while the un-ionized form is extremely toxic, the percent of the ammonia in the un-ionized form is function of pH and temperature.
Ammonia
Also called total ammonia. The summed weight of hydrogen in the both ionized (ammonium, NH4+) and molecular (NH3) forms dissolved ammonia (NH4 –N plus NH3 –N). Ammonia values are reported as N (the Nitrogen being ignored in analyses)
Ammonia Nitrogen
The ionized form of ammonia NH4+.
Ammonium
The fin of the ventral median line behind anus
Anal fin
A plate, usually constructed of concrete or steel attached around a drain pipe and extending about two feet outward. It is buried in the pond levee to retard the seepage of water through the levee along the drain pipe.
Anti-Seep Collar
The external posterior opening of the alimentary tract; the vent.
Anus
Controlled culture and propagation of aquatic animals, crustaceans, shellfish, and plants.
Aquaculture
Ponds and lakes created after excavation of fill material used in road construction
Barrow pits
The HCO3- ion, or any salt form with it such as sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)
Bicarbonate
Adult fish for spawning.
Broodstock
Chemical capable of taking up or giving up hydrogen ions and sustains pH within narrow range.
Buffer
A production method in which barrow pits, farm ponds, or lakes are used for fish production by containing the fish in cages placed in water.
Cage culture
A relative insoluble salt, CaCo3, the primary constituent of limestone and a common constituent of hard water.
Calcium carbonate
A colorless, odorless gas, CO2, resulting from the oxidation of carbon- containing substances; highly soluble in water. Toxic to fish at high levels. Toxicity to fish increases at low levels of oxygen. May be used as an anesthetic.
Carbon dioxide
Generally, fish that spawn in water temperature below 55° F. The main cultured species are trout and salmon.
Cold Water Species
Generally, fish that spawn in temperatures between 40° and 60°F.The main cultured cool water species are muskellunge, sauger, walleye, and yellow perch.
Cool Water Species
A barrier made of compacted clay that anchors the pond levee to the surrounding topography.
Core-trench
A marketing measurement equal to number per pound. For example, a 20-count would be the same as 20 per pound.
Count
Flow rate equal to 449 gallons per minute.
Cubic Foot Per Minute
Removal of the residual hypochlorite or chloramine from water to allow its use in fish culture. Charcoal is used frequently because it removes much of the hypochlorite and fluoride. Charcoal is inadequate for removing chloramine.
Dechlorination
A biochemical reaction in which nitrate (NO3-) is reduced to NO2, N2O, and nitrogen gas.
Denitrification
Food regularly provided and consumed
Diet
The amount of elemental oxygen, O2, in solution under existing atmospheric pressure and temperature.
Dissolved oxygen
The discharge from a rearing facility, treatment plant, or industry.
Effluent
The removal of the internal organs during processing
Evisceration
The mature female germ cell, ovum.
Egg
An ester composed of fatty acid(s) and glycerol.
Fat
The stage in a fish’s life between 1 inch and the length at which it is restocked for grow-out to market size.
Fingerling
The volume of water moving past a given point in a unit of time, usually expressed as cubic feet per second (cfs) or gallons per minute (gpm).
Flow Rate
A ratio of food intake to body weight gain; more generally, the total weight of all feed fed to a lot of fish divided by the total weight gain of the fish lot. The units of weight and the time interval over which they are measured must be the same. The better the conversion, the lower the ratio.
Food Conversion
A combination of ingredients that provides specific amounts of nutrients per weight of feed.
Formulated Feed
The distance between the crown of a pond levee and the surface of the water inside the pond. Usually one to three feet of freeboard is recommended.
Free Board
Water containing less than 0.05% total dissolved salts by weight
Fresh Water
The stage in a fish’s life from the time it hatches until it reaches 1 inch in length
Fry
A mandatory Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seafood inspection program by fish processors, wholesalers, and retailers.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
Progeny resulting from a cross between parents that are genetically unlike
Hybrid
The cause of acidity in water.
Hydrogen Ion Concentration
An odorous, soluble gas, H2S, resulting from anaerobic decomposition of sulfur containing compounds, especially proteins.
Hydrogen Sulfide
Period from fertilization of the egg until it hatches.
Incubation (Eggs)
Rearing of fish at densities greater than can be supported in the natural environment; utilizes high water flow or exchange rates, aeration, and requires the feeding of formulated feeds.
Intensive culture
Fish less than one year old. Also refers to fingerling
Juvenile
A constructed basin near the drain of a pond used for concentrating fish during harvest. Also referred to as catch basin.
Kettle
Calcium Oxide, Quicklime, or Burnt Lime used as disinfectant for fish-holding facilities (produces heat and extreme alkaline conditions). Agriculture lime is used to increase the alkalinity of water in pond settings. Sodium bicarbonate is used to increase the alkalinity in water recirculating systems.
Lime
A form of oxygen cooled to a liquid state and used commonly in recirculating aquaculture systems because it is cheaper per unit than gaseous oxygen.
Liquid Oxygen
A type of incubator usually made from clear plastic designed to hold fertilized eggs during the hatching process.
Mcdonald Jar
Processes involved in the release of body energy, the building and repair of body tissue, and the excretion of waste materials; combination of anabolism and catabolism. As a rule, the metabolic rate of fish doubles for every 18°F increase.
Metabolism
A species of fish in which either the female or male incubates the fertilized eggs in the mouth. Most species of tilapia grown in the United States are maternal mouth brooders.
Mouth Brooder
A method (normally biological) through which ammonia is biologically oxidized to nitrite and then nitrate.
Nitrification
The NO2- ion.
Nitrite
An odorless gaseous element that makes up 78% of the earth’s atmosphere, and is a constituent of all living tissue. It is almost inert in its gaseous form.
Nitrogen
Simple nitrogen compounds produced by the metabolism of proteins, such as urea and uric acid.
Nitrogen Wastes
Species of bacteria involved in nitrification. Nitrosommonas sp oxidizes NH3 to NO2- and Nitrobacter sp oxides NO2- to NO3-.
Nitrifying Bacteria
The bony covering that protects the gills
Operculum
The diffusion of liquid that takes place through a semipermeable membrane between solutions starting at different osmotic pressures, and that tends to equalize those pressures.
Osmosis
The formation of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water that takes place in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to light; oxygen is produced as a by-product.
Photosynthesis
Microscopic plants suspended in water with little or no capability for controlling their position in the water mass; frequently referred to as algae.
Phytoplankton
The ability of fish to take on approximately the same body temperature as the ambient temperature of their environment. Also referred to as cold-blooded.
Pokiothermic
A closed production system in which excavated soil is used to build levees and provide a gradual bottom slope
Pond
The wall of a pond which is constructed to hold in the water.
Pond Levee
A fish species that eat other fish.
Predacious/ Carnivorous Fish
A procedure used to increase evidence of safety and quality of farm-raised food fish species
Quality Assurance
A production system in which water flows through a series of troughs or tanks at relatively high flow rate. Smaller fish are usually stocked at the beginning of the raceway and larger fish stocked toward the end.
Raceway
The use of water more than one time for fish propagation. There may or may not be water treatment between uses and different rearing units may be involved.
Recirculating, Reuse, Recycle Aquaculture Systems
The utilization of oxygen in the breakdown of carbohydrates and releases carbon dioxide and water as by-products
Respiration
Concentration of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, bicarbonate, carbonate, sulfate, and halides (Chloride, fluoride, bromide) in water.
Salinity
In solutions, the maximum amount of a substance that can be dissolved in a liquid without being precipitated or released into the air
Saturation
Water containing from 3.0 to 3.5% total salts
Sea Water
Settleable solids that form bottom deposits
Sediments
Nets used to harvest fish from ponds. They are usually 25% longer than the width of the pond and have a depth 25% deeper than the maximum depth of the pond.
Seines
That fraction of the suspended solids that will settle out of suspension under quiescent conditions.
Settleable solids
Soil particles carried or deposited by moving water
Silt
The change of height (rise) or a given distance (run).
Slope
A chemical; compound (NaHCO3) used as buffer in recirculating aquaculture systems
Sodium Bicarbonate
Species of animals which spawn on substrate such as gravel, rock, perlon mats or other material
Substrate Spawners
Non-settleable articles retained in suspension in the water column.
Suspended Solids
Used to remove chlorine from solution or as titrant for determination and dissolved oxygen by Winkler method.
Thiosulfate, Sodium (Sodium Hyposulfite, Hypo, Antichlor) Na2S2O3
All of the solids in the water, including dissolved, suspended, and settleable components
Total solids
A relative measure of the ability of a chemical to be toxic. Usually refers to the ability of a substance to kill or cause an adverse effect. High toxicity means that small amounts are capable of causing death or ill health.
Toxicity
A particular class of poisons, to which the body may respond by the production of antitoxins.
Toxin
Presence of suspended or colloidal matter or planktonic organisms that reduces light penetration of water
Turbidity
A light source with a wave length less than 4000 angstroms used for disinfecting hatchery water
Ultraviolet light
A nitrogenous waste product of mammals containing two nitrogen ions
Urea
A nitrogenous waste product of birds containing four nitrogen ions
Uric Acid
Essential nutritive factors required in small amounts for the regulation of metablosim
Vitamins
Species of animals such as angelfish that normally spawn on rooted aquatic plant leaves in their natural habitat. In commercial aquaculture strips of slate are substituted for plants.
Vertical Substrate Spawners
Generally, fish that spawn at temperatures above 60°F
Warm Water Species
As it relates to fish nutrition and general fish health, involves dissolved minerals, gases, suspended, and settleable solids found in fresh water.
Water Quality
A calorimetric tiltration method of determining the dissolved oxygen concentration in water
Winkler
A class of naturally occurring yellow and orange plant pigments added to fish feeds to enhance the color of the skin pigments or muscle. In white flesh fish, xanthophylls impart undesirable yellow color.
Xanthophylls
A component of fish feed, especially for larvae feeding used for its high protein content
Yeast
Minute animals in water, chiefly rotifers and crustaceans, that depend upon water movement to carry them about, having only weak capabilities for movement. They are important prey for young fish.
Zooplankton
Fertilized egg.
Zygote
