In situ fish incubator

A method of raising larval fish or fry through the passage into their juvenile stage comprising the steps of:

• (1) containing larval fish or fry in a cage having a porous barrier with apertures that exclude predators, contain said larval fish or fry and admit entry of naturally occurring, live zooplankton, said cage being illuminated by a submerged source of light attractive to live zooplankton to induce entry of the live zooplankton into the cage to be consumed as food by the larval fish or fry;
• (2) locating the cage in waters containing live zooplankton;
• (3) gradually providing the larval fish or fry with increasing quantities of nonliving solid food while continuing to provide such larval fish or fry with access to live naturally occurring zooplankton as additive food until the larval fish or fry have been weaned from an exclusive diet of live zooplankton to a diet of solid nonliving foods.

A fish larvae or fry incubator in combination with a current deflecting barrier for sheltering said incubator from currents, said incubator for containing fish larvae or fry being positionable in waters containing both live zooplankton and predators of said fish larvae or fry, said incubator comprising an enveloping, fish-enclosing barrier for enclosing fish larvae or fry within an interior region of the incubator and a light source positioned proximate said incubator to provide light within said interior region and extending outward, the light source having a spectrum which is attractive to live zooplankton so as to preferentially attract said live zooplankton to enter into the interior region of the incubator and thereby to be consumed by the larval fish or fry, and the fish-enclosing barrier having openings therein which are:

• (1) smaller than said fish larvae or fry and said predators;
• and
• (2) larger than said zooplankton, whereby the zooplankton may selectively be drawn into the incubator by said submerged light source, to be consumed by the fish larvae or fry, and said incubator and current deflecting barrier being re-orientable in response to water currents to shelter said incubator and its contents from direct exposure to the full force of said currents.