The effect of sex, season and gametogenic cycle on gonad yield, biochemical composition and quality traits of Paracentrotus lividus along the North Atlantic coast of Portugal

Abstract

Sea urchin population harvest in the North Atlantic coast of Portugal was characterized in terms of gonad yield, nutritional composition and important market-related traits, over one reproductive cycle (March 2016 to March 2017). Most of the quality attributes showed a seasonal variation strongly dependent on sea urchin sex. Maximum gonad yield (18%) was observed in March 2017. A single spawning event occurred between May and July. Gonads are rich sources of protein (12–18% WW) with low fat content (≤6% WW), that increase during the gametogenic stages of recovery and growing (November-December). Polyunsaturated fatty acids were the dominant class in both sexes (4.2–14.7 mg.g −1 WW), being preferentially accumulated in females. Total gonads carotenoid varied seasonally, with the highest level being observed in males during spawning season. Echinenone was the main pigment present in gonads, showing highest concentrations in males during spawning and gonad recovering. During the growing and early maturation period gonads were more reddish, yellowish and brighter, as well as more firm, irrespectively of the sex. Based on all seasonal changes affecting gonad yield and quality, the period between November and February seems the most suitable to harvest high quality gonads in the Atlantic coast of Portugal.

Population Density, Reproduction Cycle and Nutritional Value of Sphaerechinus granularis (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) in an Oceanic Insular Ecosystem

“…In fact, S. granularis gonads presented a particularly high carotenoid content, comparable to S. droebachiensis from Norway (Hagen et al, 2008). Both populations present higher carotenoid content in relation to those of P. lividus from the northwestern Portuguese coast (Rocha et al, 2019), S. droebachiensis from Newfoundland (Liyana-Pathirana et al, 2002), and P. miliaris from the west coast of Scotland (Symonds et al, 2007). The relatively high content of carotenoids in the S. granularis gonads may be related with the dominance of brown and red macroalgae rich in ß-carotene (e.g., Dictyota sp., Halopteris filicina, Peyssonelia sp.…”

“…Total carotenoid extraction in urchins gonads followed Rocha et al (2019), where freeze-dried gonads (c.a. 0.5 g) were extracted with acetone (5:1, v/w).…”

Comparative morpho‐physiological aspects and transcriptomics of the gonads from wild caught and enhanced green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis)

“…In the current study, the gonad water content was at its highest for the first 6 weeks of the experimental period, but there are no significant differences between enhanced and wild sea urchins. Gonad water content is known to fluctuate during the annual reproductive cycle, with the lowest water content during early winter for P. lividus (Montero-Torreiro & Garcia-Martinez, 2003;Rocha et al, 2019), winter for Evechinus chloroticus (Verachia et al, 2012) and from September to December for S. droebachiensis (Hagen et al, 2008). This is during the pre-gametogenesis and gametogenesis stages in the reproductive et al (2018) found no correlation between gonad texture and water content, although Azad (2011) found differences in water content for sea urchins fed prepared diet.…”

The effect of fresh seaweed and a formulated diet supplemented with seaweed on the growth and gonad quality of the collector sea urchin, Tripneustes gratilla , under farm conditions

“…(2013), Cyrus, Bolton, and Macey (2015) and further demonstrates that a formulated diet can improve the gonad yield of urchin. Spawning is known to lead to a reduction in gonad size (Phillips et al., 2010; Rocha et al., 2019) and this could have impacted urchins in the U‐20U and 20U‐20U treatments, where urchins were seen to release their gametes due to temperature drop during the feeding trial over the period when the diets were switched. The GSI and gonad histology results, following the change of diet, support this notion and revealed a decrease in GSI and a more advanced state of gametogenesis.…”