PENDEDERAN TIRAM MUTIARA, Pinctada maxima DENGAN PERBEDAAN KEDALAMAN NURSERY OF PEARL OYSTER, Pinctada maxima AT DIFFERENT DEPTH

The aims of this experiment were to study the effect of depth to the growth and survival rate of pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima) during nursery period. The experiment was conducted in ten weeks from November 2008 to January 2009 at the Pegametan Bay using spat collector. The spat collectors were wrapped using polyethylene net, then hanged and placed in the floating cage. The growth and survival rate of juveniles were measured and counted weekly. The experiment used Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four treatments and four replications. The treatments were 4 depths that were 0 m (near surface), 5 m, 10 m and 15 m. The results showed that the density of plankton in each depth was significantly different, which lead to the differencies of growth among treatment. The high growth and survival rate were obtained at the depth of 5 m. During ten week in nursery, the shell could growth from 3.0 mm to 36.5 mm in length, and from 2.45 mm to 30.1 mm in width. The survival rate was ranged from 2.68% to 25.15%