Abstract
Mariculture-impacted areas contain organically-enriched sediments that sea cucumbers could potentially thrive on. The viability of growing sandfish (Holothuria scabra) to marketable size (>300 g) in a milkfish (Chanos chanos) fish farm area was investigated through simultaneous pen grow-out experiments in a fish farm site and a seagrass site. We determined the growth and survival of juveniles in conjunction with environmental parameters during each experiment. Smaller juveniles (6.7 ± 0.7 g) stocked in the fish farm experienced mass mortality within 15 days whereas survival was low in the seagrass (12%). In contrast, survival of larger juveniles (57.4 ± 4.3 g) was high in the fish farm (49%) and not significantly different from the seagrass (63%). Moreover, absolute growth rates (AGR) were much higher in the fish farm (1.2 ± 0.2 g m−2) than those in the seagrass (0.2 ± 0.1 g m−2). The fish farm site supported about 3-fold higher biomass, and sandfish reached marketable sizes (> 300 g) within 7 months primarily due to a higher total organic matter and chloroplastic pigment equivalent in the sediment. AGR was negatively correlated with strong water movement and positively correlated with total suspended solids and salinity. Additionally, temporal variability in AGRs indicates that sandfish is highly sensitive to the decrease in salinity due to heavy precipitation. An intermediate grow-out culture of juveniles to >50 g in a seagrass area was essential prior to release in the fish farm site. Results provide new insights into the coupling of the environmental factors and life stage of the organism in mediating grow-out success.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call