JAPAN -Â Researchers are trying to decode the ''language'' of oysters using a machine that watches the animals for indications of changes in the environment. The goal is to prevent mass die-offs caused by red tide or oxygen deficiency.
The device is called ''Kai-Lingual,'' a play on the Japanese word for shellfish, ''kai,'' and it observes the opening and closing movements of the bivalves’ shells, which can point to red tide, oxygen deficiency or other abnormalities in seawater that could lead to oyster mortalities.
The experiment began this fall at Shido Bay in Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture and will last until March.
The device was created by a team including Tsuneo Honjo, head of the Kagawa University Seto Inland Sea Regional Research Centre's Aji Marine Station in Takamatsu in the same prefecture, and pearl dealer K Mikimoto & Co in Tokyo. It identifies abnormalities by monitoring shell movements, which are recognised as electric signals broadcast from sensors and magnets attached to the shells, Kyodo reports.
Ultimately, the researchers are hoping to discover what causes the mass mortalities of oysters that occasionally afflict aquaculture farms.
"With kai-lingual, we can hear the 'screams', like 'we are in pain because of insufficient oxygen'," said Tsuneo Honjo, director of the Seto Inland Sea Regional Research Centre at the university, AFP reports.
The method has already been applied to pearl oysters. Farms in Ago Bay in Mie Prefecture have used the machine to keep an eye on seawater and successfully spotted red tide or oxygen deficiency.
However, the ''language'' of food oysters has not yet been deciphered as thoroughly as that of pearl oysters. Researchers have therefore resorted to placing pearl oysters among their food counterparts in Shido Bay as ''interpreters,'' so they can observe their changes in appearance in response to specific environmental conditions.
"We have firmly established conversations with pearl oysters through years of research. They should translate the reactions of the farmed oysters for us in this project," Honjo said.
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