Aquaculture of green sea urchin in the Barents Sea: a brief review of Russian studies

Abstract

Gonads of the green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) containing valuable carotenoids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, phospholipids and sulphated fucans are in great demand from the expanding market. In Russian waters of the Barents Sea, only a few sites are suitable for commercial harvesting and thus the development of green sea urchin farming in this region. Our review presents a short survey of Russian literature on biological aspects and rearing methods of green sea urchins in the Barents Sea. In the 1980s, spawning induction and larval culture experiments were undertaken to obtain larvae of S. droebachiensis. Later studies were undertaken to test optimal rations and conditions for gonad enhancement of adult sea urchins in sea cages and closed systems. Gonadal growth was higher and faster in sea urchins reared under controlled conditions in closed water circulation tanks compared with sea cages. Regular feeding of cultured animals provided them better gonadal growth than in wild sea urchins irrespective of food items. Algal diets showed a lower level of gonad yield compared with mixed diets (algae + squid, algae + fish), fish diets and prepared diets (artificial feed based on fish skin). The coast of the Kola Peninsula has a good potential for the development of the green sea urchin farming but several financial, socio‐economic, logistic and management problems must be solved before this process starts.

Thyroid Hormones in Hemolymph of Red King Crabs from the Barents Sea

“…Opportunities include further development of the aquaculture sector [27]. Coastal sites of the Kola Peninsula have favorable environmental conditions for invertebrate aquaculture [27,52], but profitable aquaculture cannot be organized without excellent knowledge regarding the ecology and physiology of target organisms [39,53,54]. The red king crab is a slow-growing species reaching the commercial size of 150 mm carapace width (or 137 mm carapace length) after 10 years of growth.…”

New Echinoderm-Crab Epibiotic Associations from the Coastal Barents Sea

“…The green sea urchin is a long-living (45 years) and slow-growing species. It is an omnivorous grazer preferring brown algae, epiphytes (Hydroidea, Bryozoa, Spongia), and gastropod and bivalve mollusks, especially Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) [ 23 ].…”

“…Salinity minimum (32.2 psu) is associated with high input of meltwater and it is registered in May. In autumn and winter, salinity is stable accounting for 34 psu [ 7 , 23 ]. The minimum level of dissolved oxygen (94%) is registered in December, the maximum (124%) in May [ 23 ].…”

“…In autumn and winter, salinity is stable accounting for 34 psu [ 7 , 23 ]. The minimum level of dissolved oxygen (94%) is registered in December, the maximum (124%) in May [ 23 ]. In July, water temperature is 9.1 °C, salinity is 32.7 psu, and the concentration of dissolved oxygen is 104.4% [ 23 ].…”

Blue Growth: Sea Urchin Sustainable Aquaculture, Innovative Approaches

“…In Norway, Nofima (The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research) has focused on the development of feed for the broodstock diet and on enhancement of sea urchin roe quality to avoid the use of macroalgae (Siikavuopio, Christiansen, Saether, & Dale, 2006;Siikavuopio, Dale & Mortensen, 2007;Siikavuopio, Mortensen, & Christiansen, 2008). In Russia, there is an interest on behalf of scientists and businessmen to develop sea urchin aquaculture in the Barents Sea; however, to date, there has been a lack of funding (Dvoretsky & Dvoretsky, 2020).…”