Breeding and larval development ofHolothuria mammata, a new target species for aquaculture

Abstract

Sea cucumber commercial fisheries in the North‐eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea started in Turkey in the 1990s. Due to ineffective management practices, the sea cucumber resource was overexploited. Holothuria mammata is one of the sea cucumber species exploited from this geographical area, showing high potential for its aquaculture. This research was undertaken to develop the breeding, larval and juveniles rearing techniques for development of H. mammata aquaculture. Broodstocks collected from Ria Formosa (Faro, S Portugal) were successfully induced to spawn by thermal stimulation from July to October, yielding up to 6.95 million eggs/female. The eggs and larvae were reared and their development described. H. mammata showed the five typical larval stages of most aspidochirote holoturians. Juveniles stage was reached after 21 days post‐fertilization. This is the first work focused on the aquaculture biotechnology of H. mammata, however, further research is need to improve the survival of juveniles to ensure the future production of this species.

Biology, ecology and management perspectives of overexploited deposit-feeders sea cucumbers, with focus on Holothuria tubulosa (Gmelin, 1788)

“…It has been estimated that once released in the field H. scabra can reach the commercial size of 700 g ind -1 in about 2-3 years, with a survivorship of 7-20% (Purcell and Simutoga, 2008). In the last decade, new attempts have been also made with the Mediterranean species H. tubulosa and Holothuria polii Delle Chiaje, 1823, (Rakaj et al, 2018(Rakaj et al, , 2019; H. arguinensis (Domínguez-Godino et al, 2015); H. mammata (Domínguez-Godino and González-Wangüemert, 2018).…”

Improving the fitness of Holothuria arguinensis larvae through different microalgae diets

“…The larvae were fed once at day with their respective microalgae dietary treatment, increasing its concentration gradually from 2 × 10 4 to 4 × 10 4 cell/ml from early auricularia to late auricularia stages (Domínguez-Godino & González-Wangüemert, 2018a;Domínguez-Godino et al, 2015). When mix diets were used, equal concentration was given from each microalgae species.…”

“…Holothuria scabra is the second largely produced sea cucumber species in aquaculture with a current production of 130 tons/year (Robinson & Lovatelli, ). However, many other sea cucumbers, such as Actinopyga miliaris , A. mauritiana , Australostichopus mollis , H. fuscogilva , H. mammata , H. spinifera , H. tubulosa , Isostichopus badionotus , I. fuscus , Parastichopus californicus and Stichopus horrens , are target species for aquaculture development around the world, though most of them are in their early stage (Domínguez‐Godino & González‐Wangüemert, ; Purcell, Hair & Mills, ; Rakaj et al., ; Zacarías‐Soto, Olvera‐Novoa, Pensamiento‐Villarauz & Sánchez‐Tapia, ).…”

Observation of Vibrio mediterranei (Pujalte and Garay 1986) / Vibrio shiloi (Kushmaro et al. 2001) bacteria from skin ulcers of the cultured sea cucumber Holothuria poli (Delle Chiaje, 1823)

“…Nearly fifteen species and more than 176 500 tons (FAO, 2021) of sea cucumbers are produced in holothuriculture facilities particularly in China, Russian Federation Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Korea, Madagascar, Vietnam, New Caledonia, Zanzibar and Japan (Sicuro and Levine, 2011). Moreover, the temperate sea cucumber species like Holothuria tubulosa (Gmelin 1788), Holothuria poli (Delle Chiaje 1823), Holothuria forskali (Delle Chiaje, 1823), Holothuria arguinensis (Koehler and Vaney, 1906) and Holothuria mamata (Grube 1840) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea are new candidates close to the commercial production level (Domínguez-Godino et al, 2015, Tonn et al, 2016, Tolon, 2017, Domínguez-Godino and González-Wangüemert, 2018, Rakaj et al, 2018, Rakaj et al, 2019.…”