Abstract
To estimate the growth parameters, the non-seasonal von Bertalanffy and Hoenig seasonal von Bertalanffy models were fitted to the length frequency data of Holothuria atra and H. arenicola obtained from coastal areas of Karachi in the northern Arabian Sea, Pakistan between January and December 2014. The Hoenig seasonal von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated as L∞=36.1 cm total length (TL), K=0.75 year-1 for H. atra and as L∞=34.9 cm TL, K=0.70 year-1 for H. arenicola. H. atra individuals reached 73.9% of their maximum total length at the one year old. For H. arenicola it was calculated as 72.7%. Monthly mean growth rate of H. atra at the same ages was calculated higher than H. arenicola. The seasonal oscillation in growth rate for H. atra (C=0.50) was larger than it was for H. arenicola (C=0.37). The time of the year when the growth is slowest corresponded to the middle of April (WP=0.30) in H. atra and at the beginning of August (WP=0.60) in H. arenicola may be the result of the extended both reproduction and poor nutrition periods due to monsoonal effects on the marine environment. The relatively high growth rates (K>0.7 year-1) of these two species may have important implications for high survival rate, particularly in environmental condition where cause biological stress and marine confusion but may also increase their potential as a candidate species for aquaculture.
Highlights
To estimate the growth parameters, the non-seasonal von Bertalanffy and Hoenig seasonal von Bertalanffy models were fitted to the length frequency data of Holothuria atra and H. arenicola obtained from coastal areas of Karachi in the northern Arabian Sea, Pakistan between January and December 2014
According to these results described above, it can be concluded that the growth and length composition for examined species in the research region differ significantly between years and between regions due to the marine environmental variability such as site health, e.g., water quality, hydrodynamics
Together with this study seasonal growth was first pronounced for both H. arenicola and H. atra
Summary
A total of 25 sea cucumber species have been recorded from the coastal waters of Pakistan, so far and seven of them are documented as commercially important species (Tahera and Tirmizi, 1995; Purcell, 2010; Purcell et al, 2012; Ahmed and Ali, 2014, 2020; Ahmed et al, 2016a, 2020b; Moazzam and Moazzam, 2020). Two of the commercially important sea cucumber species are lollyfish, Holothuria (Holothuria) atra Jaeger, 1833 and sand sea cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) arenicola Semper, 1868 found in the coastal waters of Pakistan. H. atra known as the black sea cucumber is found in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, its range extends from the Red Sea and East Africa to Australia. It inhabits the inner and outer flats, back reefs, shallow lagoons, sand-mud and rubble, and sea grass beds between 0 and 20 m. In few Pacific Island nations, the body wall, intestines and/or gonads are consumed in traditional diets or in times of hardship (Purcell et al, 2012)
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