To Estimate Growth Function by the Use of SLW Index in the Sea Cucumber Holothuria arenicola (Holothuroidea: Echinodermata) of Pakistan (Northern Arabian Sea)

Abstract

Accurate measurements of weight and length in sea cucumbers are difficult due to body wall elasticity. The compound indices that combine different biometric parameters can be utilized to obtain more precise biometric relationships. We estimated parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth functions like K, L∞ and t0 in Holothuria arenicola. Total length, total weight and gutted weight were measured. A compound index in which the length and width were combined to produce the SLW index (square root of length multiplied by width) and its associated transformation like Le (recalculated length) were evaluated and the morphometric relationships between total weight/total length, gutted weight/ total length, total weight/recalculated length and gutted weight/recalculated length were also investigated. Student’s t-test showed that H. arenicola grows allometrically (b not equal to 3, P < 0.05), with negative allometric tendency. No difference was found in total body length and recalculated length of an anesthetized sea cucumber in present study. The estimated natural mortality of H. arenicola found as low as compared to other species of sea cucumber which showed that this species may be more resistant to predation. Furthermore, these results are potentially significant to progress aquaculture systems for this and other comparable sea cucumber species in subtropical ecosystems.