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Effects of stocking density and body physical contact on growth of sea cucumber, A postichopus japonicus
Author(s) -
Pei Surui,
Dong Shuanglin,
Wang Fang,
Gao Qinfeng,
Tian Xiangli
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/are.12004
Subject(s) - apostichopus japonicus , sea cucumber , stocking , biology , zoology , growth rate , significant difference , nutrient , ecology , medicine , mathematics , geometry
The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of physical contact on the growth of A postichopus japonicus through various stocking densities, group culture and physical isolation culture. The results showed that the specific growth rates ( SGR ), the feed conversion efficiencies and the energy used for growth of the animal decreased with the increase in stocking density, while the coefficient of variations ( CV ) in group culture treatments increased. In high density treatments (4, 6 ind./40 L), the SGR s in isolated culture treatments were not different to those in group culture treatments of the same density, however, the CV s in the latter (58.0% and 60.4%, respectively) were significantly higher than those in the former (37.8% and 35.8%, respectively). The CV difference between group one and isolated one of the same density (20.2% and 24.7%, respectively) was less than that in single individual culture (32.7%), indicating that the effect of physical contact on growth variation was weaker than that of genetic factor. This study proved that the individual growth variation in sea cucumber resulted mainly from genetic factor and physical contact, while some chemical mediator might also be the factor affecting the growth rate of sea cucumber.