Reproductive biology of the commercial sea cucumber Holothuria spinifera (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

The annual reproductive cycle of the commercial sea cucumber Holothuria spinifera was studied in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India, from September 2000 to October 2001, by macroscopic and microscopic examination of gonad tubule, gonad index and histology of gametogenic stages, to determine the spawning pattern. The gonad consists of long tubules with uniform development. It does not confirm the progressive tubule recruitment model described for other holothurians. The maximum percentage of mature animals, gonad and fecundity indices, tubule length and diameter, with the observations on gonad histology, ascertained that H. spinifera had the peak gametogenic activity

Reproductive biology of the sea cucumber <i>Holothuria sanctori</i> (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea)

“…Throughout the study, female tubules were wider than male tubules, which is a common pattern for many holothurians (Shiell andUthicke 2005, Toral andMartínez 2007). However, tubules were slightly longer in males than in females, as occurs in other Aspidochirotida species, such as H. fuscogilva, H. nobilis, H. fuscopunctata, H. scabra, H. atra, Actinopyga mauritana, Actinopyga echinites (Conand 1993b), H. witmaei (Shiell and Uthicke 2005) and H. spinifera (Asha and Muthiah 2008).…”

“…The ventral part of each animal was dissected and the entire gonad was removed, including the germinal tubules, and then towel-dried and weighed to the nearest 0.01 g (GW). Following removal of the internal organs and excess of coelomic fluid, the gutted body weight (GBW) was determined to the nearest 0.01 g. The gonad index was subsequently calculated using the ratio between the gonad weight and the GBW through the formula (Conand 1981, 1993b, Ramofafia et al 2001, Asha and Muthiah 2008, Gaudron et al 2008, Kohler et al 2009):…”

“…sanctori showed a sex ratio that does not differ significantly from a 1:1 relation. In most holothurians from the Aspidochirotida order, the sex ratio usually coincides with a balanced 1:1 relationship (Cameron and Frankboner 1986, Ramofafia et al 2000, 2001, Rasolofonirina et al 2005, Asha and Muthiah 2008, although some species show a slightly unbalanced ratio with more males than females, or vice versa (Shiell and Uthicke 2005).…”

Sea cucumberHolothuria forskali, a new resource for aquaculture? Reproductive biology and nutraceutical approach

“…The sex ratio obtained for H. forskali showed a significant difference in the 1:1 relation. In most holothurians from the Aspidochirotida order, this ratio often coincides with a balanced 1:1 ratio (Ramofafia, Battaglene & Byrne ; Rasolofonirina, Vaitilingon, Eeckhaut & Jangoux ; Asha & Muthiah ). However, some species demonstrated an unbalanced ratio of 1:2 or 2:3, due to fishing pressures that affects the population of a given area (Shiell & Uthicke ; Muthiga, Kawaka & Ndirangu ).…”

“…Individuals lacking gonad's weights were generally slightly lighter than sexed individuals, which demonstrates the gonad importance in establishing an individual weight (Morgan ; Ramofafia et al . , ; Asha & Muthiah ; Navarro et al . ).…”