Skip to main content
Log in

Effects of water depth and substrate color on the growth and body color of the red sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus

  • Biology
  • Published:
Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Three color variants of the sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus are recognized, the red one is highly valued in the market. When the red variant is cultured in ponds in China, its body color changes from red to celadon in 3–6 months. The effects of water depth and substrate color on the growth and body color of this animal were investigated. Juveniles of red A. japonicus were cultured in cages suspended at a range of water depths (20, 50, 100, 150 and 200 cm). The specific growth rate of red sea cucumbers was significantly higher in animals cultured at deeper water layers compared with those grown at shallowers. Body weights were greatest for sea cucumbers cultured at a depth of 150 cm and their survival rates were highest at a depth of 200 cm. A scale to evaluate the color of red sea cucumbers (R value) was developed using a Pantone standard color card. All stocked animals in the 9-month trial retained a red color, however the red body color was much more intense in sea cucumbers cultured at shallower depths, while animals suspended in deeper layers became pale. In a separate trial, A. japonicus were cultured in suspended cages with seven different colored substrates. Substrate color had a significant effect on the growth and body-color of red A. japonicus. The yield were greatest for A. japonicus cultured on a yellow substrate, followed by green > white > orange > red > black and blue. All sea cucumbers in the 7-month trial retained a red color, although the red was most intense (highest R value) in animals cultured on a blue substrate and pale (lowest R value) for animals cultured on a green substrate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barcellos L J G, Kreutz L C, Quevedo R M, da Rosa J G S, Koakoski G, Centenaro L, Pottker E. 2009. Influence of color background and shelter availability on jundiá (Rhamdia quelen) stress response. Aquaculture, 288(1–2): 51–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen J X. 2004. Present status and prospects of sea cucumber industry in China. In: Lovatelli A, Conand C, Purcell S, Uthicke S, Hamel J-F, Mercier A eds. Advances in Sea Cucumber Aquaculture and Management. FAO, Rome. p.25–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choe S, Ohshima Y. 1961. On the morphological and ecological differences between two commercial forms, “Green” and “Red”, of the Japanese common sea cucumber, Stichopus japonicus Selenka. Bull. Jpn. Soc. Sci. Fish., 27(2): 97–106. (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christiansen R, Struksnæs G, Estermann R, Torrissen O J. 1995. Assessment of flesh colour in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Aquac. Res., 26(5): 311–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong Q L, Xing X Y, Zhao X M. 2007. Effect of light intensity on astaxanthin synthesis in Haematococcus Pluvialis. Acta Hydrob. Sinica, 31(3): 445–447. (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dong Y W, Dong S L, Tian X L, Wang F, Zhang M Z. 2006. Effects of diel temperature fluctuations on growth, oxygen consumption and proximate body composition in the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus Selenka. Aquaculture, 255(1–4): 514–521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duray M N, Estudillo C B, Alpasan L G. 1996. The effect of background color and rotifer density on rotifer intake, growth and survival of the grouper (Epinephelus s uillus) larvae. Aquaculture, 146(3–4): 217–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsberg O I, Guttormsen A G. 2006. A pigmentation model for farmed Atlantic salmon: nonlinear regression analysis of published experimental data. Aquaculture, 253(1–4): 415–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han D, Xie S Q, Lei W, Zhu X M, Yang Y X. 2005. Effect of light intensity on growth, survival and skin color of juvenile Chinese longsnout catfish (Leiocassis longirostris Günther). Aquaculture, 248(1–4): 299–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang S H, Dong S L, Gao Q F, Wang F, Tian X L. 2013. Comparative study on nutrient composition and growth of green and red sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867), under the same culture conditions. Aquac. Res., 44(2): 317–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juell J E, Fosseidengen J E. 2004. Use of artificial light to control swimming depth and fish density of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in production cages. Aquaculture, 233(1–4): 269–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanno M, Kijima A. 2002. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation on the color variation of the Japanese sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus. Aquacult. Sci., 50(1): 63–69. (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawamura G, Matsushita T, Nishitai M, Matsuoka T. 1996. Blue and green fish aggregation devices are more attractive to fish. Fish. Res., 28(1): 99–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin Q, Lin J D, Huang L M. 2009. Effects of substrate color, light intensity and temperature on survival and skin color change of juvenile seahorses, Hippocampus erectus Perry, 1810. Aquaculture, 298(1–2): 157–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lund I, Steenfeldt S J, Hansen B W. 2010. Influence of dietary arachidonic acid combined with light intensity and tank colour on pigmentation of common sole (Solea solea L.) larvae. Aquaculture, 308(3–4): 159–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mei Z P, Finkel Z V, Irwin A J. 2009. Light and nutrient availability affect the size-scaling of growth in phytoplankton. J. Theor. Biol., 259(3): 582–588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura S. 1995. Guide to Seashore Animals of Japan with Color Pictures and Keys. Vol. 2. Hoikusha Publishing Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan.

    Google Scholar 

  • No H K, Storebakken T. 1991. Pigmentation of rainbow trout with astaxanthin at different water temperatures. Aquaculture, 97(2–3): 203–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum E P, Barrett G W. 2005. Fundamentals of Ecology. 5 th edn. Thomson Brooks/Cole, Belmont, USA. p.598.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavlidis M, Papandroulakis N, Divanach P. 2006. A method for the comparison of chromaticity parameters in fish skin: preliminary results for coloration pattern of red skin Sparidae. Aquaculture, 258(1–4): 211–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheng J Q, Lin Q, Chen Q X, Gao Y L, Shen L, Lu J Y. 2006. Effects of food, temperature and light intensity on the feeding behavior of three-spot juvenile seahorses, Hippocampus trimaculatus Leach. Aquaculture, 256(1–4): 596–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strand Å, Alanärä A, Staffan F, Magnhagen C. 2007. Effects of tank colour and light intensity on feed intake, growth rate and energy expenditure of juvenile Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis L. Aquaculture, 272(1–4): 312–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sui J J, Dong S L, Tian X L, Wang F, Dong Y W. 2010. The effect of light color on respiration and excretion of sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus. Period. Ocean Uni. China, 40(3): 61–64. (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Suqimoto M. 2002. Morphological colour changes in fish regulation of pigment cell density and morphology. Microsc. Res. Techniq., 58(6): 496–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tume R K, Sikes A L, Tabrett S, Smith D M. 2009. Effect of background colour on the distribution of astaxanthin in black tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon): effective method for improvement of cooked colour. Aquaculture, 296(1–2): 129–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace J C, Kolbeinshavn A, Aasjord D. 1988. Observations on the effect of light intensity on the growth of Arctic charr fingerlings (Salvelinus alpinus) and salmon fry (Salmo salar). Aquaculture, 72(1–2): 81–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Dong S L, Dong S S et al. 2004. The effect of light intensity on the growth of Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis. Aquaculture, 234(1–4): 475–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Dong S L, Huang G Q, Wu L X, Tian X L, Ma S. 2003. The effect of light color on the growth of Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis. Aquaculture, 228(1–4): 351–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xue S Y, Fang J G, Mao Y Z, Zhou J, Zhang J H, Zhang Y. 2007. The influence of different light intensity on growth of juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. Mar. Fish. Res., 28(6): 13–18. (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang H S, Yuan X T, Zhou Y, Mao Y Z, Zhang T, Liu Y. 2005. Effects of body size and water temperature on food consumption and growth in the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) with special reference to aestivation. Aquac. Res., 36(11): 1 085–1 092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • You K, Yang H S, Liu Y, Liu S L, Zhou Y, Zhang T. 2006. Effects of different light sources and illumination methods on growth and body color of shrimp Litopenaeus v annamei. Aquaculture, 252(2–4): 557–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Wang Y G, Rong X J, Cao S M, Chen X. 2009. Behavioral responses of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) to different light intensity and settlement substratum color. Chin. J. Ecol., 28(3): 477–482. (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang P, Dong S L, Wang F, Wang H, Gao W, Yan Y. 2012. Effect of salinity on growth and energy budget of red and green colour variant sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenca). Aquac. Res., 43(11): 1 611–1 619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X Y. 1986. Experiment on the influence of light to pigment of juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. Mariculture, 1(1): 37–38. (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shuanglin Dong  (董双林).

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31440089), the National Spark Program of China (No. 2014GA690259), the National Marine Public Welfare Project of China (No. 200905020), the Natural Science Research General Program of Jiangsu Provincial Higher Education Institutions (No. 14KJD240002) and the Special Guide Fund Project of Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation of Yancheng (No. 13KJB610056)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jiang, S., Dong, S., Gao, Q. et al. Effects of water depth and substrate color on the growth and body color of the red sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus . Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 33, 616–623 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-015-4178-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00343-015-4178-7

Keyword

Navigation