Abstract
Holothuria arguinensis aquaculture started to be developed in 2014, being the first sea cucumber species from Europe. However, some aspects of its aquaculture biotechnology, such diets, need to be assessed. This work aimed to evaluate seagrass debris of Zostera noltii and Cymodocea nodosa as food source for broodstock maintenance in tanks, during breeding periods. The given feed rations per tank were calculated as the 30% of the total sea cucumber biomass in each tank and reviewed each week. Then, feed rations of seagrass and sediment were calculated from this value, according to the following percentages: 40% sediment, 15% Z. noltii, 40% Z. noltii, 15% C. nodosa and 40% C. nodosa. H. arguinensis growth, feeding rate and nutritional value were assessed under these diets. H. arguinensis fed with 40% of Z. noltii showed the highest growth (specific growth rate = 0.09 ± 0.06%/day, absolute growth rate = 0.11 ± 0.07 g/day) increasing their final weight in 5.86 ± 3.57% in 57 days. However, the individuals fed with C. nodosa showed a negative growth. H. arguinensis showed a reduction in its feeding rate as the organic matter content in the diets increased. H. arguinensis did not show any important change on proximate composition, protein, lipid, mineral contents and fatty acids profile among the feeding groups, or in comparison with the individuals collected from wild habitat. Therefore, H. arguinensis could be fed with Z. noltii debris during tanks maintenance along breeding period, ensuring its growth and maintaining its nutritional profile.
Highlights
In the last decades, it was recorded the overexploitation of the traditional fishing grounds of sea cucumbers along the Pacific and Indian Oceans due to the increasing demand of bêche-de-mer by the Asiatic market (Conand, 2004; Purcell et al, 2013; Purcell, Samyn, & Conand, 2012)
The fatty acids (FA) profiles of all H. arguinensis groups were mainly composed of arachidonic acid (ARA; C20:4n-6), 14-tricosenoic acid (C23:1), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5n-3), cis-11-eicosenoic acid (C20:1n9) and nervonic acid (C24:1; Table 2), which represent more than 56% of the FA content for the animals fed with the different diets, and 43% and 49% for those collected at T0 and TF, respectively
The specific growth rate (SGR), absolute growth rate (AGR) and weight change for the individuals fed with the two levels of Z. noltii were slightly higher than the control animals fed with sediment, and than those ones fed with C. nodosa, which showed negative values for these parameters
Summary
It was recorded the overexploitation of the traditional fishing grounds of sea cucumbers along the Pacific and Indian Oceans due to the increasing demand of bêche-de-mer (dried sea cucumber) by the Asiatic market (Conand, 2004; Purcell et al, 2013; Purcell, Samyn, & Conand, 2012). The aquaculture development of the depleted species has become an important source to supply the high demand from Asiatic markets and a profitable industry with a total production of 90.4 million tonnes (US$ 144.4 billion; FAO, 2014; Purcell et al, 2013). To the commercial fisheries, there is a high incidence of illegal fishing of sea cucumbers in the Mediterranean and NE Atlantic waters (Domínguez-Godino & González-Wangüemert, 2018a; GonzálezWangüemert et al, 2018). The incidence of illegal fishing on H. arguinensis is driven by the high prices that this species reaches in the market, which can be up to 350 €/kg (Domínguez-Godino & González-Wangüemert, 2018a; González-Wangüemert et al, 2018)
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