African catfish tasting like sturgeon to be cultured in Udmurtia

Development Corporation of Udmurtia (a republic in the Volga Federal District) will start construction of a new fish farming complex for pond culture of African sharptooth catfish.

This 901 square meter facility will produce 400 tonnes of catfish per year. After all the production premises are commissioned, the complex will get the first harvest in 3-4 months. The investments will total 150 million RUR (more than 2 million Euro).

African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus tastes similar to sturgeon. This eel-like fish is a healthy product containing the whole set of microelements. It has no bones and it is fit for processing into sausages, smoked products and ready-to-cook items.

In natural environment catfish can be affected by several species of digestive flukes. However, infection is completely impossible when catfish is growing in RAS environment (recirculating aquaculture system). Novossibirsk-based Agastia RAS fish farm cultures 200 metric tons of African sharptooth catfish per year.