Metabolic Rate Characteristics And Sediment Cleaning Potential Of The Tropical Sea Cucumber Holothuria Scabra

The oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and ammonium excretion rate (AER) of a tropical sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra, were determined in laboratory experiments. OCR and AER exhibited a significant negative correlation to body weight (BW), expressed as a power function of BW: OCR = 0.09 x BW-0.58 (mgO(2)/g/h, r(2)=0.89, n=15) and AER = 0.38 x BW-0.19 (mu molN/g/h, r(2)=0.54, n=15). These values were comparable to those in previous studies on other sea cucumber species. The OCR of shrimp tank sediment was reduced to less than half (4.5 +/- 0.3 to 1.0 +/- 0.1 mgO(2)/gdry/h) by the ingestion and excretion process of H. scabra. Acid volatile sulfide (AVS-S) concentration was also decreased to less than half (0.67 to 0.31 mgS/mgdry); despite the low reduction rates of organic carbon and nitrogen contents (0.19 to 0.14 mgC/mgdry and 0.022 to 0.019 mgN/mgdry, respectively). These results suggest that components in the sediment with high oxygen consumption potential were removed by H. scabra. These findings also provide fundamental information with which to evaluate the quantitative role of H. scabra in polyculture with shrimp.