A study of two tagging methods in the Caribbean sea cucumber Holothuria mexicana

Abstract

An effective tagging technique represents a challenge for long-term studies in sea cucumbers. These studies require accurate identification, high tag retention and no adverse effects on vital rates or performance of the tagged individuals. We tested the retention rate of one external and one internal tag in the sea cucumber Holothuria mexicana. The passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag was inserted into the coelomic cavity and the T-bar (external tag) was attached in the upper surface of the body wall. Retention rate was lower, for both kinds of invasive tags, than required in long-term studies. Stress elicited by the tagging procedure caused evisceration of 40% of PIT-tagged individuals versus a 57% of T-bars during or no more than five minutes after tagging. No differences in evisceration between both tags were detected; nor any correlation between evisceration and length. To conclude, the tagging procedure harmed the animals and both PIT-tags and T-bars showed similar low retention rates after ten weeks. Both marks were not effective for long-term studies in Holothuria mexicana. Development of a technique to tag adult red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815), with passive integrated transponder tags. Journal of Shellfish Research 11, 91-94. Duggan R.E. and Miller R.J. (2001) External and internal tags for the green sea urchin. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 258, 115-122. Ebert T.A. (2007) Growth and survival of postsettlement sea urchins. In Lawrence J.M. (ed.) Edible sea urchins: biology and ecology. 2nd edition. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 95-134. Gibbons J.W. and Andrews K.M. (2004) PIT tagging: simple technology at its best. BioScience 54, 447-454. Goldman M. (2007) Migratory behavior of adult female blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, in Pamlico Sound: implications for assessment and protection of the spawning stock.

Evaluation of three tagging methods in the sea urchin Diadema antillarum

“…Long-term studies have become an important tool for the estimation of survival, recruitment and growth rates needed for the parameterization of demographic models (Pollock et al ., 1990; Pradel, 1996; Mowat & Strobeck, 2000; Caswell, 2001; Lauzon-Guay & Scheibling, 2008) to better understand the population dynamics of marine species. The use of external and internal devices have been very useful in identifying invertebrates, fish, birds, reptiles and mammals in the field and in controlled environments (Prentice et al ., 1990; Schooley et al ., 1993; Steyermark et al ., 1996; Duggan & Miller, 2001; Nicolaus et al ., 2008; Rodríguez-Barreras et al ., 2014b). These types of studies need high tag retention rates and neutral effects on survival, growth, movement, etc.…”

Limited long-term movement and slow growth of the sea cucumber Pearsonothuria graeffei

“…Mark−recapture studies rely upon long-term tag retention and non-invasiveness of the tags or marking method. Physical tags and body etching have had poor retention with holothuroids and can interfere with behaviour and metabolism (Conand 1991, Shiell 2006, Wheeling et al 2007, Rodríguez-Barreras et al 2014. Genetic fingerprinting has good application for holothuroids (Uthicke & Benzie 2002) but is more expensive and sophisticated to apply , Shiell 2006.…”

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Marking Juvenile Takifugu obscurus Otoliths with Strontium

“…To estimate the stock enhancement and releasing effectiveness of T. obscurus, the mark-recapture monitor is essential, and marking T. obscurus is useful before release [6]. The ways of fish marking technique include the coded wire tag (CWT) [7,8], fluorescent marking [9], scutcheon tag [10,11], and microsatellite DNA marker [12]. However, these methods are limited, due to high cost, high mortality, easy shedding of tags, and the inapplicability to small size fish [13,14].…”