Fishery Resources and Products

Fishery Resources

• Encompasses various marine and aquatic life harvested for commercial and subsistence purposes

Major Fishery Products

• Big Bodied round scad (galunggong)
• Indian sardine (tamban)
• Frigate tuna (tulingan)
• Long jawed anchovy (dilis)
• Slip mouth (sapsap)
• Yellow fin tuna (Albacora)
• Big eyed scad (matangbaka)
• Small mouth threadfin (mamaleng bato)
• Fimbriated herring (tunsoy)
• Short bodied mackerel (hasa-hasa)

Minor Fishery Products

• Crustaceans
• Mollusks
• Thallophytes
• Echinoderms
• Poriferans
• Coelenterates

Crustaceans

• Shrimps, prawns, crabs, and lobsters belong to this group
• They are part of the Decapoda order, meaning they have ten feet
• They have compound eyes and a carapace joined to their thoracic segments

Shrimps and Prawns

• Characterized by a long abdomen and a body compressed from side to side

Crabs

• Have a short abdomen folded underneath the body
• Their bodies are flattened, oval, and covered with a carapace
• They possess one pair of large anterior claws and four pairs of legs at the thorax
• The head features a segmented mouth, a pair of eyes on movable stalks, and two pairs of antennae

Lobsters

• Are larger decapods with a long abdomen and a body compressed from top to bottom

Mollusks

• Are abundant, colorful, beautiful, expensive, and varied animals in the ocean
• Includes shellfish, squid, and octopuses

Shellfish

• Are a subgroup of mollusks

Univalves

• Have one shell
• Are harvested through dredging
• Their shells can be crafted into items like necklaces, earrings, and home décor

Examples of Univalves

• Triton
• Helmet
• True Conch
• Moon Snail
• Cowrie
• Sundial
• Abalone
• Top shell
• Bubble
• Cone
• Olive
• Vase
• Murex
• Slit Shell
• Volute
• Turban
• Tun
• Frog shell
• Tulip
• Nutmeg

Bivalves

• Have two shells
• Are bilaterally symmetrical with a foot and two calcareous shells connected by strong adductor muscles
• If both shells are similar, they are equivalve, otherwise, they are inequivalve
• Equivalves: mussels, pens, scallops and clams
• Inequivalves: oyster, and windowpane (kapis)
• Bivalve shellfish burrow in the seabed and feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton
• They are harvested by dredging and digging

Examples of Bivalves

• Mussel
• Scallop
• Tellin Clam
• Giant Clam
• Lucine
• Cockle
• Pen
• Pearl Oyster
• Jackknife Clam
• Surf Clam
• Bittersweet
• Ark Shell
• Venus Clam
• Thorny Oyster
• Piddock

Squid, Cuttlefish, and Octopus

• Highly developed mollusks with prehensile tentacles surrounding their head and camera-type eyes
• Squid and cuttlefish have 10 tentacles and an internal shell
• Octopus lacks a shell and has eight tentacles
• Squid can swim actively using jet propulsion or fleshy fins
• They are carnivorous, preying on crustaceans, fish, and other mollusks

Thallophytes

• Algae are classified as thallophytes
• They're flowerless plants without true roots, stems, or leaves and are highly sea vegetables
• Grow in marine water and are called sea weeds
• Eucheuma, Glacilaria and Gelidiella are the genera of seaweeds exported.

Two Kinds of Algae

• Move freely
• Grow in a fixed location (commercial importance)

Algae Classification by Color

• Blue green (Cyanophytes) (FW)
• Green (Chlorophytes) (MW)
• Brown (Phaeophytes) (MW)
• Red (Rhodophytes) (MW)

Uses of Seaweeds

• Human and animal food
• Medicine
• Fertilizer
• Chemicals
• Good source of iodine
• Extract from Gracillaria & Gelideilla is used for suppositories and laxatives

Agar

• Bakery icing
• Bacteriological laboratory medium
• Medicinal suppositories/laxative
• Dental applications
• Industrial uses

Carrageenan

• Cocoa fiber
• Production of chocolate milk
• Stabilizing ice cream

Algin

• Food dressing
• Beverages
• Beer

Echinoderms

• Exhibit an apparent radial symmetry
• Have five equal rays
• Possess soft, leather-like body walls
• Tend to be firm and nearly immovable (sea urchin)
• Body walls often covered in knobs (starfish & brittle star)
• Equipped with a well-developed alimentary canal, providing both a mouth and anus
• Features a combined respiratory and locomotor system known as the water vascular system

Groups of Echinoderms

• Sea Cucumber
• Sea Urchin
• Starfish
• Brittle Star

Sea Cucumber

• Holothurian with a sausage-shaped, rubbery body lacking a bony skeleton and containing calcareous ossicles
• Has five oral feet modified into tentacles to ingest food
• Feeds on minute invertebrates, filtering them from the water
• Comes in various colors: brown, spotted brown, grayish, black
• Harvested through dredging during high tide or collected under stones, coral, and seaweed
• Considered a delicacy in the Orient, especially Japan and China, in soups and recipes
• Can be prepared into sitsaron or blended with pancit loglog

Sea Urchin

• Possesses unattached, disk-shaped shells, movable spines, and microscopic button-like bodies
• Has a complex chewing structure known as Aristotle's lantern with five conveying jaws and accessory ossicles
• Feeds on phytoplankton, zooplankton, and other waste materials
• Majority are dark purple, green with intense shades of red, orange, and some striped spines
• Sharp, shallow spines contain a toxic substance that are very painful when broken in the skin
• Thick gloves are recommended during gathering
• Sold in local markets in Mindanao
• Reproductive glands are salted for the market
• Shell of sand dollar used as paper weights
• Striped spines used for decoration and jewelry

Starfish

• Lack eyes but can detect light using photosensitive cells at the end of their ambulacral grooves
• Typically have five arms, although some species may have more
• Exhibit brilliant colors, including orange, brown, green, and violet
• Move along the seabed using tube feet
• Live at low tide and sometimes float on seaweed
• Can be picked up during low tide
• Used for decoration
• Seldom eaten due to bitter taste

Brittle Star

• Have five long, slender, brittle arms
• Have the least economic importance
• Not eaten due to their tough skeleton rather than toxicity; they are not dangerous or venomous

Poriferans

• Sponges
• Represent a minor fishery product
• Simplest of multi-celled animals
• Hermaphroditic, multiplying by fertilizing eggs
• Grow in groups with regeneration
• Vary in color: orange, brown, purple, ivory, white, yellow, black, or red

Marketable Sponges

• Wool Sponge
  • Looks like inverted pineapple with a voluminous, regular form
  • Soft, absorbent, and can grow up to 18 inches in diameter
• Bath Sponge
  • Relatively large with a caked shape
  • Less durable, less resilient and easily loses elasticity
• Grass Sponge
  • Grows to the same size as wool and bath sponges
  • Dirty brown, highly resilient, elastic, and softer in texture
• Yellow Sponge
  • Attractive yellow or yellowish brown
  • Most elastic and resilient, but less durable, less fine, and less absorbent than other commercial sponges
• Velvet Sponge
  • Spherical, smooth, soft, fine, durable, and can absorb and retain large water volume

Uses of Sponges

• Decoration
• Bath and toilet purposes
• Pillows
• Furniture
• Cleaning records
• Washing dishes
• Mattresses
• Padding
• Washing vehicles
• Industrial purposes
• Bank tellers
• Jewelers
• Leather workers

Coelenterates

• Lack an anus; waste is expelled through the mouth

Three Classes:

• Hydrozoa
• Anthozoa
• Scyphozoa

Coelenterates Include:

• Corals
• Sea Anemones
• Jellyfish

Corals

• Reefs are considered medicine cabinets
• Reef plants and animals are sources of new medicines for cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer's, heart disease, viruses, and other illnesses

Sea Anemones

• Belong to class Anthozoa
• Flower-like polyps with cylindrical shape, mouth, and surrounding tentacles at one end
• Attached to rocks, piles, shells or hermit crabs
• Many species can grow up to 36 inches in diameter
• Distributed in Visayas & Sulu and used for decoration & jewelry

Jellyfish

• Scyphozoan
• Free-swimming with transparent, bell-shaped watery bodies, with tentacles projected
• Part of floating plankton due to slow movement and rhythmical muscular contraction
• Feed on zooplankton