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Individual variation in growth in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenck) housed individually

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Abstract

The exceptionally large individual growth variation has been previously recognized in several sea cucumber cohorts. However, there is a lack of information regarding the mechanism of such individual differences. In this study, the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) was reared individually in order to eliminate possible effects of social interaction, stocking density, etc. The results showed that there were substantial differences in growth among the sea cucumber individuals during the 100-day experiment. The special growth rate of the sea cucumber individuals differed by up to three folds (from 0.40% to 1.01%), and the coefficient of variation in body weight increased from 12.04% to 40.51%. The final wet body weight, food intake and food conversion efficiency for each sea cucumber were generally positively correlated with their initial wet body weight (P<0.05). Energy budget of the animals showed that the food energy spent on respiration was much greater (about four folds) but energy deposited for growth was much less for (initially) smaller than for larger A. japonicus. The present result implies that there are obvious genetic differences among the sea cucumber individuals, largely accounting for the individual growth variation of the cohort sea cucumber. These results will provide some basic data for promoting selective breeding and farming of the sea cucumber.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, P. R. China

    Miao Liang, Shuanglin Dong, Qinfeng Gao, Fang Wang & Xiangli Tian

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  1. Miao Liang
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  2. Shuanglin Dong
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  3. Qinfeng Gao
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  4. Fang Wang
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  5. Xiangli Tian
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Correspondence to Shuanglin Dong.

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Liang, M., Dong, S., Gao, Q. et al. Individual variation in growth in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenck) housed individually. J. Ocean Univ. China 9, 291–296 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-010-1739-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-010-1739-4

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