Growth of Juvenile Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus in Integrated Culture with Rockfish Sebastes schlegeli or Abalone Haliotis discus hannai

摘要

A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the growth and body composition of juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus in integrated culture with abalone Haliotis discus hannai or rockfish Sebastes schlegeli. Triplicate groups of sea cucumber averaging 1.2±0.05 g were cultured alone or with abalone or rockfish for 12 weeks. Survival of sea cucumber was not affected by co-culturing (P>0.05). Weight gain of sea cucumber cultured with rockfish was significantly higher than that of sea cucumber cultured alone (P<0.05), and did not differ from that of those cultured with abalone (P>0.05). These findings indicate that co-culturing sea cucumber with rockfish effectively improves the growth of sea cucumber.