Transport and acclimation of a broodstock collection of Holothuria forskali
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1
Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal
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2
ESTM, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Peniche, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal
Transport of sea cucumber specimens is a sensitive task that should be handled with care to avoid stress and any degradation of physiological conditions. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of transport and acclimation on individuals of Holothuria forskali.
Seventy individuals were captured in the coastal area adjacent to the Sado estuary during two scuba diving sampling campaigns that took place in December (n=40) and in January (n=30). All individuals were carefully collected by hand and placed in 46 L containers for transport, filled with sea water, with constant aeration, but with no additional sediment, in order to minimize possible damage to the tegument. In December, specimens were stocked at around 16 to 20 individuals per container (average 56.35 kg m-3) while in January they were stocked at 12 individuals per container (average 37.57 kg m-3). In both occasions, all animals were conveyed to the Aquaculture Lab of MARE-IPLeiria over a 3 hour maximum period.
H. forskali individuals were randomly assigned to a total of six tanks with 50 L capacity, 3 for each sampling campaign, the December individuals stocked at an average density of 38.40 kg m-3 while the January individuals were stocked at 28.80 kg m-3. Animals were kept evenly distributed over the six tanks over a period of 15 days in order to acclimate the broodstock to the captivity conditions. Water quality parameters were measured daily throughout the trial. The temperature was maintained at 16.3 ±1.8 °C for the animals transported in December and 16.8 ± 1.0 °C for the animals transported in January. Dissolved Oxygen levels (O2) were registered at 6.68 ± 0.60 mg L-1 in December, and 7.63 ± 0.33 mg L-1 in January. Salinity and pH were registered at 31.65 ± 0.70 and 8.33 ± 0.13, respectively for December. In January the same parameters were registered as 32.73 ± 0.70 and 8.29 ± 0.05.
Regarding the first transport, all specimens released Cuvier tubules, 90% of the H. forskali released them during capture and 10% during transport. The second transport presented only a 67% rate of Cuvier tubules’ release during capture and none during transport.
During the acclimation period, specimens of the first transport showed signs of stress, culminating in a total of 12.5% of total evisceration of the individuals and 2.5% mortality rate. In contrast, the January specimens showed no signs of evisceration and presented no mortality.
The presented evidence points towards the positive effects that smaller stock densities during transport and acclimation may have, regarding the safety and well-being of specimens of H. forskali with aquaculture purposes.
Acknowledgements
This work was financed by the Operational Program Mar2020. It received further financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (project UID/MAR/04292/2013 and A.C. Brito with the Research Programme – IF/00331/2013).
Keywords:
sea cucumber,
evisceration,
Cuvier tubules,
Mortality rate,
Stock density
Conference:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Aquaculture
Citation:
Sousa
JN,
Pombo
A,
Venâncio
E,
Azevedo E Silva
FH,
Simões
TD,
Raposo
AG,
Baptista
TM,
Félix
PM and
Brito
AC
(2019). Transport and acclimation of a broodstock collection of Holothuria forskali.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00098
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Received:
04 May 2018;
Published Online:
07 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. João N Sousa, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Lisbon, Portugal, joaotrigodesousa@gmail.com