Recently, the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences issued the announcement of the Great Fisheries Innovation Award for the year 2018-2019. Five achievements were awarded, including two of the basic research awards and three of the transforming awards. The South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute is on the list, and the achievement of "total artificial cultivation and cultivation of clown fish" accomplished by Tropical Fisheries Research and Development Center has won the Great Fisheries Innovation Award.

Aiming at the contradiction between the shortage of high-quality varieties of tropical seawater ornamental fish and the increasing demand for high-quality seedlings in China, this research systematically carried out the research on the full-artificially cultivation and cultivation technology of clown fish. Six kinds of clown fish, Amphiprion clarkii, were successfully reproduced artificially. The domestication, cultivation, artificial propagation, nursery and cultivation techniques of clown fish were established. The technical system lays a solid foundation for the industrialization of clown fish farming, contributes to the rise of China's seawater ornamental fish farming industry, reduces the artificial fishing behavior of wild ornamental fish in natural waters, and is beneficial to the protection of coral reef biodiversity. It has important economic, social and ecological significance. From 2013 to 2018, a total of 260,000 clown fish larvae were promoted, with a cumulative added output value of 2.594 million yuan.

The main highlights of this research are as follows: First, the breeding methods and reproductive habits, reproductive environment and nutritional control measures of the parent fish of the full-scale clown fish are defined. The spawning amount of Amphiprion ocellaris and Amphiprion sebae reached 500-800 and 1 000-1 200, respectively, which were 18% and 200% higher than those reported in the literature. The hatching rate of eggs was above 90%, and the effect was remarkable, which was conducive to solving the problems of low spawning amount and hatching rate of clownfish parent fish, and then improving the low production of clownfish culture. At the same time, the matching success rate of the parent fish selected from the juvenile clown fish for artificial breeding is 50%-80%, and the spawning rate of the matching parent fish is 50-65.5% in two years. The problem of lack of parents and single body color in clown fish culture is solved, and the level of "having a pair of mature spawning wild parents can produce the parents needed for large-scale production in about two years" is achieved. The development of ornamental fish farming is of great significance. Secondly, the seedling rate of Amphiprion sebae reached 65-71%, Amphiprion frenatus 73-82%, Amphiprion polymnus 68-72%, Amphiprion perideraion 82-86%, which was much higher than that of domestic and foreign counterparts. Thirdly, an economical and efficient indoor and outdoor recirculating aquaculture model for clown fish was constructed, and a variety of aquaculture models were evaluated, such as long-run aquaculture, recirculating aquaculture and artificial mariculture, with good results. Fourthly, it is the first time in China to break through the technical bottleneck of large-scale breeding and full-scale artificial breeding of parent fish, reaching the highest level of cultivating 10 000 juvenile clown fish of 1-3 cm per month. Fifthly, eight patents have been granted by the state and 13 articles have been published. The appraised results have reached the leading level in China. Sixth, this achievement has good prospects for promotion and development. The project covers a small area, uses less water, has high efficiency, and has a good market prospects. A large-scale wholesale market for ornamental fishes in seawater has been formed all over the country, with guaranteed sales. One mu of land yields 100 000 tails per year, creating an annual output value of 0.5-3 million yuan. At present, it has been popularized in some companies and individual households in south China, and small and medium-scale demonstration breeding has proved to have high economic and social benefits.