AQUACULTURE DIVISION STAFF

Megan Davis, Ph.D.
(Director) - mdavis@hboi.edu

Dr. Megan Davis has been actively working in the field of aquaculture for the past 25 years. She is the Director of Aquaculture Division. Dr. Davis was the co-founder of a commercial molluscan aquaculture operation located in the Turks and Caicos Islands, B.W.I. Megan was instrumental in developing and establishing commercial applications for culture queen conch, Strombus gigas, from the egg stage to juvenile stage. Her studies focused on the early life history of conch, such as larval nutrition, larval dispersal and recruitment, metamorphosis, predatory-prey interactions and stock enhancement. Her conch research topics at HBOI include captive breeding, larval rearing and juvenile growout. Since joining the staff at HBOI, Megan has designed and implemented workshops and courses for retraining Florida displaced fishers in aquaculture. As Program Director of ACTED, Megan developed schedules, curricula and course material for training workshops and short courses that are offered to national and international students. She is co-coordinator of the Associate Science degree in Aquaculture in collaborations with Indian River Community College that began in the fall 1998. Megan has published many peer review papers and special publications or proceedings and was the Associate Editor and Editor of the Caribbean Aquaculture Association newsletter since 1990. She is a board member of the Florida Aquaculture Association. Megan received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biology at Florida Institute of Technology in 1998.

Selected Publications:
- Shawl, A. and M. Davis. 2004. Captive breeding behavior of four Strombidae conch. Journal of Shellfish Research. Vol. 23. 157-164.
- Jeffs, A. and M. Davis. 2003. An assessment of the aquaculture potential of the Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus. Proceedings of Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute. 54: 413-426.
- Davis, M. 2000. Queen conch (Strombus gigas) culture techniques for research, stock enhancement and growout markets. In: Fingerman, M. and Nagabhushanam, R. (eds.) Recent Advances in Marine Biotechnology, Vol 4, Aquaculture, Science Publishers, Inc. New Hampshire USA, pp. 127-159.
- Davis, M and Stoner, A.W. 1994. Trophic cues induce metamorphosis of queen conch larvae (Strombus gigas Linne). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 180: 83-102.
- Stoner, A.W. and M. Davis. 1994. Experimental outplanting of juvenile queen conch, Strombus gigas: comparison of wild and hatchery-reared stocks. Fisheries Bulletin, U.S., 92: 390-411.

Research Projects:
[ LINK ] - Closing the cycle: captive breeding behavior of four strombidae conch
[ LINK ] - Breeding of the Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus
[ LINK ] - Growth of Florida Fighting Conch in recirculating systems.
[ LINK ] - Metamorphic response of queen conch (Strombus gigas) larvae exposed to sediment and water from nearshore and offshore sites in the Florida Keys
[ LINK ] - Effect of dietary calcium and substrate on juvenile queen conch growth rate and shell strength
[ LINK ] - Recruitment of spiny lobster pueruli to submerged sea cages in Puerto Rico