Sex Determination in Sea Cucumbers: Holothuria forskali and Stichopus regalis
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1
GIRM, Grupo de Investigação em Recursos Marinhos, IPL, Portugal
Sea cucumber aquaculture is underexploited in temperate regions, and it is inexistent in Portugal. However, there are some species with a large potential for this sector, namely Stichopus regalis and Holothuria forskali, as it their nutritional value. S. regalis is a common sea cucumber that is found in a wide depth range and is currently consumed all over the world, majority in Asia, with a high commercial value. On the other hand, H. forskali is the most plentiful specie of the Portuguese coast. The purpose of this study is to evaluate sex ratio on both species through biopsy method, using biopsy needle to collect a piece of gonad. Holothurian specimens were sampled coastwise in Peniche, Portugal (39° 21′ 32″ N, 9° 22′ 40″ W). A total of 45 H. forskali were collected in the low tide and 48 S. regalis were caught by trawl method. Both species were kept in captivity during 8 months, the rearing conditions are maintained close as possible to the natural habitat, and they were placed in a sand bottom. Mortality was evaluated during conditioning period, and it was verified approximately 19% of mortality in S. regalis, although in H. forskali it was not observed. Sex identification was performed with success only in H. forskali, and sexual ratio found was 1:1. All S. regalis specimens arrived eviscerated to the Aquaculture Laboratory and it was caused by the trawl capture method. For that reason, it was not possible to assess the sexual ratio. The possibility to distinguish holothurian genre is essential to realize sexual behavior, and to ease the understanding of reproductive cycle in attempt to introduce these new species for aquaculture rearing.
Keywords:
holothurian,
sea cucumber,
Sex identification,
Aquaculture,
sexual ratio
Conference:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014, Peniche, Portugal, 10 Jul - 11 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
AQUACULTURE
Citation:
Santos
FP,
Pratas
DV,
Baptista
T and
Violante Pombo
A
(2014). Sex Determination in Sea Cucumbers: Holothuria forskali and Stichopus regalis.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2014.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2014.02.00145
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Received:
25 Apr 2014;
Published Online:
18 Jul 2014.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Filipa P Santos, GIRM, Grupo de Investigação em Recursos Marinhos, IPL, Peniche, Portugal, 4130731@my.ipleiria.pt