ENIVRONMENT ASIA

Volume 11, No. 03, Month SEPTEMBER, Year 2018, Pages 148 - 160

Effect of holothuria scabra (jaeger) on particle size composition and components of sediments

Margarita de la Torre-de la Cruz1, Janine L. Villamor and Rose Jane P. Diodoco

Abstract Download PDF

To determine the effect of sea cucumbers on the sediment components and particle composition, hatchery produced juveniles of Holothuria scabra (sandfish) were raised in pens for one year. Four 100 m2 circular experimental pens were set up in the nearshore area of Maliwaliw Island, Salcedo, Eastern Samar, Philippines. Three pens were stocked with 200 (5.46±1.96 g) juveniles each and one pen served as control. Sediment samples were collected from each of the pens before stocking and every quarter thereafter. Sediment grain size, total and labile organic matter, and chlorophyll-a were determined. There was no significant difference in the changes in sediment size particle between the control and the experimental pens from the start to the end of the study. Analysis of the sediment chlorophyll-a, total and labile organic matter showed increased values at the end of the study in both the experimental pens and the control pen also showing no significant differences. In the experimental pens, only 29 individuals were recovered from pen 1 with an average weight of 341.99 g at the end of the study. In pen 2 and 3, 19 and 14 individuals were recovered with an average weight of 353.14 g and 316.04 g, respectively. With 10.33% of the stocked sandfish recovered from the experimental pens, the results indicate that the area can support sandfish sea ranching at two sandfish per m2 without causing sediment degradation.

Keywords

H. scabra; Changes in sediment; Grain-size; Organic matter; Chlorophyll-a

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