If you want a fish that can take a finger off, then you want something like a puffer, a large porcupine can do it quite neatly. Or something like a queen triggerfish, who WILL fuck you up it doesn't want you in its territory.
farms are a different story sea, tho often even worse than wild fisheries. the baseline doesn't apply to farmin as it's farmin, not fishin! however, many species that are farmed are from higher up in the food chain. so inevitably, fishin is required to feed the farmed fish which makes the farmin completely unsustainable. on top of this, due to the density of animals in the farms - n this is of particular concern in open loop systems - large amounts of antibiotics n antiparasitics are used to treat the stock for infections. this then goes out into the surroundin environment, causin serious damage. on top of this are the high levels on pcbs recorded in the flesh of these fish, chemicals which are damaging to both the environment n to our own health (causes cancer).
don't know much about clam farms so can't really comment, but i expect the feed n antibiotics issues still apply. closed loop systems reduce the enviromental impact, but unless feeding algae grown in closed loop systems too, there are still sustainability issues to contend with. do you know how the clams are fed n grown in the tridacnid farms sea?
no easy solution sadly! but there are solutions are there, they just aren't bein utilized.
u ever seen bobtail squid sea? (that might even be one in the photo) now those are cool squid! would love a few of those as pets, i must admit.
neverbreak
Yes, these bivalves are filter feeders primarily, but they have those gorgeous jewel-like colors because they also have zooxanthellae in their tissues. So farming them in their natural environs really means not much more than planting seed clams and letting them grow.
Food fishes, now THIS fishery is where you're going to really see the rampant overuse of antibiotics, etc, especially when we're talking about farming (culturing) animals that are at the top of the food chain instead of the bottom, e.g. salmon or tuna. Those farms are already causing a problem, and I personally vote with my dollars by
not buying those farmed animals. Aquaculture is something that's interested me, but I've never worked that trade.
Algae, rotifers, all kinds of small things, can indeed be cultured in a closed system.
I'm not familiar with that common name for a squid. That's a pic I got from a guy out in Hawai'i many years ago who found it out snorkeling or something like that, caught it and brought it home and contacted WWM asking for identification.
