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- Title
Survival and growth of the sea cucumber H olothuria leucospilota Brandt: a comparison between suspended and bottom cultures in a subtropical fish farm during summer.
- Authors
Yu, Zonghe; Hu, Chaoqun; Zhou, Yi; Li, Haipeng; Peng, Pengfei
- Abstract
The feasibility of co-culturing the sea cucumber H olothuria leucospilota Brandt in a subtropical fish farm was investigated in a field study. Sea cucumbers were cultured in the fish farm in cages suspended at 4 m deep (suspended culture) and directly on the seafloor (bottom culture). The survival and growth of the sea cucumbers were monitored twice during the 3-month, summer experimental period (May 26-August 14, 2010). Results showed that the suspension-cultured sea cucumbers exhibited excellent survival rate (100%) during the whole study period. There also occurred no mortality in the bottom-cultured sea cucumbers during the first culture period (May 26-July 13); but all these died from anoxia caused by water column stratification during the second culture period (July 14-August 14). The specific growth rate of the bottom-cultured sea cucumbers (1.05 ± 0.21 % day−1) was nearly double that of the suspended culture animals (0.57 ± 0.21 % day−1) during the first culture period, and the growth rates of the suspended culture sea cucumbers in the second culture periods (0.46 ± 0.24 % day−1) was only a little lower than that of the first period. The sea cucumbers H . leucospilota could ingest and assimilate sediment with high organic matter content with an average assimilation efficiency of 14.9 ± 3.9%. This study indicated that fish farm detritus can be effectively used as a food source for the sea cucumber and that it can be turned into a valuable secondary crop in the form of the sea cucumber biomass.
- Subjects
SEA cucumber culture; ECHINODERMATA growth; MARINE invertebrates; SURVIVAL behavior (Animals); SMALL animal culture; CULTURES (Biology)
- Publication
Aquaculture Research, 2012, Vol 44, Issue 1, p114
- ISSN
1355-557X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2109.2011.03016.x