Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:29:44.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Respiration and biometry in the sea cucumber Holothuria forskali

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

C. M. Astall  and
M. B. Jones
C. M. Astall
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Polytechnic South West, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
M. B. Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Polytechnic South West, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
*
†To whom all correspondence should be addressed
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Relationships between wet body weight, dry body weight and ash-free dry body weight (AFDW) were established for the aspidochirote sea cucumber Holothuria forskali (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea); a wetdry weight ratio of 6–38:1 was found. Length-weight relations were also determined. Low oxygen tensions and mechanical trauma induced H. forskali to eviscerate (70% of individuals tested). Respiratory measurements of intact and eviscerated sea cucumbers were determined at 17°C. For intact animals, oxygen consumption (ul h1) was directly related to AFDW (the slope of the regression line, b=0–60), whereas weight-specific oxygen consumption (Vo2; ul g1AFDW h) was inversely related to AFDW (b=0–54). Oxygen consumption of eviscerated sea cucumbers was independent of AFDW (b=0-\5), but Vo 2 was inversely related to AFDW (t–0–85). There were no significant differences between the respiratory rates of intact and eviscerated individuals, indicating that H. forskali is not so dependent upon respiratory trees for oxygen uptake as previously assumed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 73 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bakus, G.S. 1968. Defensive mechanisms and ecology of some tropical holothurians. Marine Biology, 2, 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BrownW.I., W.I., & Shick,, J.M. 1979. Bimodal gas exchange and the regulation of oxygen uptake in holothurians. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 156, 272–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, M. 1985. Evisceration behaviour and the seasonal incidence of evisceration in the holothurian Eupentacta quinquesemita (Selenka). Ophelia, 24, 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawbin, W.H. 1949. Auto evisceration and the regeneration of viscera in the holothurian Stichopus mollis (Hutton). Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 77, 497–523.Google Scholar
Dimock, R.V. 1977. Effects of evisceration on oxygen consumption by Stichopus parvimensis Clarke (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 28, 125–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emson, R.H. & Wilkie, I.C. 1980. Fission and autotomy in echinoderms. Oceanography and Marine Biology, an Annual Review, 18, 155–250.Google Scholar
Fankboner, P.V. & Cameron, J.L. 1985. Seasonal atrophy of the visceral organs in a sea cucumber. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 63, 2818–2892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fish, J. & Fish, S. 1989. Student's Guide to the Seashore. Unwin Hyman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, H.M. 1936. The activity and metabolism of poikilothermal animals in different latitudes -1. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 64, 945–955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fry, F.E.J. 1971. The effect of environmental factors on the physiology of fish. In Fish Physiology, vol. 6. Environmental Relations and Behaviour (ed. Hoar, W.S. and Randall, D.J.), pp. 1–87, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hopcroft, R.R.Ward, D.B. & Roff, J.C. 1985. The relative significance of body surface and cloacal respiration in Psolus fabricii (Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida) Canadian Journal of Zoology, 63, 2878–2881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J.M. & Lane, J.M. 1982. The utilization of nutrients by post-metamorphic echinoderms. In Echinoderm Nutrition (ed. Jangoux, M. and Lawrence, J.M.) pp. 331–371. Rotterdam:A.A. Balkema.Google Scholar
Mosher, C. 1956. Observations on evisceration and visceral regeneration in the sea cucumber, Actinopyga agassizi Selenka. Zoologica, New York, 41, 17–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mukai, H.Koike, I.Nishihira, M. & Nojima, S. 1989. Oxygen consumption and ammonium excretion of mega-sized benthic invertebrates in a tropical seagrass bed. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 134,101–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, R.C. & Courtney, W. A.M. 1965. Respiratory movements in Holothuria forskali Delle Chiaje. journal of Experimental Biology, 42, 45–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, D.A. 1972. Volume changes and oxygen extraction efficiency in the holothurian, Stichopus mollis (Hutton). Comparative Biochememistry and Physiology, 43A, 795–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabourin, T.D. & Stickle, W.B. 1981. Effects Of Salinity On Respiration And Nitrogen Excretion In Two Species Of Echinoderms. Marine Biology, 65, 91–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sisak, M.M. & Sander, F. 1985. Respiratory behaviour of the western Atlantic holothuroidian (Echinodermata)Holothuria glaberrima (Selenka) at various salinities, temperatures and oxygen tensions. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 80A, 25–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, K.L. 1983. Metabolism of two dominant epibenthic echinoderms measured at bathyal depths at the Santa Catalina Basin. Marine Biology, 72, 249–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G.N. & Greenberg, M.J. 1973. Chemical control of the evisceration process in Thyone briareus. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 144, 421–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stott, R.S.H.Hepburn, H.R.Joffe, I. & Heffron, J.J.A. 1974. The mechanical defense mechanism of a sea cucumber. South African Journal of Science, 70, 46–48.Google Scholar
Strickland, J.D.J. & Parsons, J.R. 1972. A practical handbook of seawater analysis, 2nd ed. Bulletin. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, no. 167, 310 pp.Google Scholar
Swan, E.F. 1961. Seasonal evisceration in the sea cucumber, Parastichopus californicus (Stimpson). Science, New York, 133, 1078–1079.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winterstein, H. 1909. Uber die Atmung der Holothurien. Archivio di Fisiologia, 7, 87–93.Google Scholar