Fully-farmed octopus from Nissui to reach market as soon as 2020

Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) has successfully hatched eggs of fully-farmed octopus using artificial incubation at its Oita Marine Biological Technology Center in Saeki, Oita Prefecture, in western Japan, the company announced on 8 June. 

Around 140,000 eggs were produced during incubation in what is the first full-cycle aquaculture technology process for octopus, which has been known to have a low survival rate of roughly 30 days after being hatched, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review. Nissui said it has identified aquatic organism that can satiate and nourish growing octopuses, and is using the organisms to hone its full-cycle octopus aquaculture technology. 

If growing conditions are fair, the company hopes to be able to ship fully-farmed octopus to Japanese restaurants and retailers by 2020.

Full-cycle aquaculture stipulates that eggs used in the incubation process be derived from animals that were themselves conceived by artificial incubation, reported Nikkei Asian Review.