Some aspects on the biology of commercially most important holothuriam Holothuria (Metriatyla) acabra are

presented. It subsists on the organic matter present in the mud or sand. An analysis of gut content revealed fine

mud (75-125 ^), sand particles (250-500 p.), moUuscan shells, debris and bits of algae. This species spawns in June

and October. By external examination and by taking sections of the gonads, five maturity stages such as immature,

maturing, early mature, late mature and spent have been fixed. The characteristics of different stages of maturity

are presented in detail

Baskar, B K

CMFRI Digital Repository

Bull. Cent. Mar. Fish. Res. Inst, 1994, 46 : 39 - 43 2.3 SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE BIOLOGY OF THE HOLOTHURIAN HOLOTHURIA (METRIATYLA) SCABRA (JAEGER) B. K. BASKAR Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin • 682 014 ABSTRACT Some aspects on the biology of commercially most important holothuriam Holothuria (Metriatyla) acabra are presented. It subsists on the organic matter present in the mud or sand. An analysis of gut content revealed fine mud (75-125 ^), sand particles (250-500 p.), moUuscan shells, debris and bits of algae. This species spawns in June and October. By external examination and by taking sections of the gonads, five maturity stages such as immature, maturing, early mature, late mature and spent have been fixed. The characteristics of different stages of maturity are presented in detail. INTRODUCTION Information on the biology of holothurians is limited. This is particularly so concerning the Indian holothurians. Despite its economic impor-tance, Holothuria scabra did not receive much attention, this is rather siirprising. From India, some work has been done on the Holothuria scabra by Krishnaswamy and Krishnan (1967, 1970 a, 1970 b); Krishnan (1968) and Mary Bai (1971, 1978, 1980). Recently James et al. (1988) described induced spawning and rearing of the holothurian from Tuticorin. Mortensen (1937) reported on the spawn-ing of H. scabra on the Egj^jtian Coast of the Red Sea between April and June 1936. Hardy and Cowan (1980) reported the pearl-fish Encheliophis vumricularis from. H. scabra. Chopra (1932) and James and Mahadevan (1966) reported a pea-crab from H. scabra. James (1976) described an early juvenile of H. scabra from Palk Bay. Since the information on the biology of the most important holothurian H. scabra is very scanty, this work was taken up to fill up the gaps in the knowledge of its life history. The author is indebted to Dr. P. S. B. R. James, Director, Centraal Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin for his valuable suggestions and guidance. He is thankful to Dr. D. B. James for helping in the preparation of this manuscript. He is immensely thankfiil to Shri S. Mahadevan for providing the necessary facilities to carry out this work and to Shri T. S. Velasnidhan for photographing the gonads. He is gratefiil to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for awarding a Senior Research Fellowship. MATERIALS AND METHODS For the study of biology regular samples were coUectd fi-om Tuticorin and Kilakarai in the Gulf of Mannar and fi"om Tirupalakkudi and Rameswaram in Palk Bay. Samples were transported to laboratory. After recording length and weight, specimens were dissected; gut and gonads were carefully taken out for examina-tion. For gut content analysis, guts were pre-served in 1% formalin. Gut contents were care-fiiUy removed and dried in oven at 65°C for 24 hrs. Gut contents were seggregated into different size grades by passing through standard sieves of 90, 125, 250, 500, 700, 1003 and 1630 \x. sizes. Each fi"action was weighed and. expressed as percent of total gut content weight. The amount of total organic carbon in the gut contents were estimated (Walkey and Black, 1932). 40 B. K. BASKAE To determine the size frequency of H. scabra, the body length of each individuals was measured to the nearest 5 mm dorsally from mouth to anns by means of flexible tap allowing RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Food and feeding habits The holothurian takes fine particles of sand and mud into their mouth by means of tentacles. TABLE 1. Maturity stages in Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra (Jaeger) Maturity stages Macroscopic feature Microscopic feature Unc I II III rv letermined sex Immature Maturing Early Mature Male Female Late Mature V Spent Male Female Male Female Single tuft of tubules, tubules short. Gonadial tubules elongated partly, yellow in colour. Gonadial tubules large, yellow in colour, branched having small round saccules. Gonadial tubules yellowish red, branched with round saccules. Gonadial tubules long, pale yellow, having 2-3 ancillary branches, saccules more elongated. Tubules pale red, elongated with swollen round saccules, having 2-3 ancillary branches. Number of tubules decreasing; tubules shortening pale yellow in colour. Gonadial tubules shorter and wider, pale red in colour. Sex indistinguishable. Germinal cells are seen. Some spermatozoa can be seen from a portion of the tubule. Oocytes are growing and without modal size (Dia. 120 fi). Numerous spermatozoa are found, yellow in colour. Oocytes are polymodal in shape (Dia. 120-165 \i). Yellow coloured spermatozoa are present. Few oocytes of dark yellow coloured cells (Dia. 152-197 n). the animal to relax and resume its normal condition, and total weight to the nearst 5 g. The length of the holothurian was measured from the commercial landing centres, when the individuals are in turgid condition and the eviscerated individuals were eliminated. Nearly 1200 individuals of different sizes were mea-sured. For reproductive biology, the gonads were carefully removed, weighed and examined macroscopically. Sex was determined by micro-scopic examination, a part of gonad was fixed in 10% NBF for histological studies. In female, oocyte diameter were measured by using occular micrometer. In the case of H. scabra, the gut cotents were analysed and observed mud, sand, shell debris, molluscan shells, bivalves and algae. The percentage of occurrence of different particles were seived, weighed (Fig. 1). From this it is clear that the percentage of individuals feeding muddy particles were 9.07% in 90 |J,; 15.48% in 125 ^; 42.08% in 250 \i; 8.86% in 500 [i; 14.15% in 710 M-; 6.16% in 1003 |i and 4.2% in 1680 \i. H. scabra takes muddy particles mostly with particle size of 125-250 \i. This shows that H. scabra prefers muddy substratum than the sandy bottom. The amount of organic matter estimated from the different regions of the gut viz. oesophagus, stomach and intestine are 2.06%; 2.26% and 1.7% respectively. This shows BIOLOGY OF HOLOTHURIA SCABRA 41 that absorbtion takes place more in the stomach region than in the intestine. Tokuhica (1915) commented that the holothurian extract organic matter out of sand or mud taken together. Clark (1954) also noted that holothurian and the bottom animals generally extract organic matter out of sand or mud which pass through their intestine. H. scabra is not a continuous feeder, the oesophagus and stomach remains empty in most of the individuals, but the intestine is filled with sand or mud particles. / \ ) 0 0 3 ; i ^ / Y * / 710/U \ / 14% L 4 % 90/1 ^ X 9% / \ / <25/i \ / 16% \ 500/1 9% 250/1 42% The total weight of H. scabra ranged from 100 to 1400 g (Fig. 2 b). The weight depends on the amount of coelomic water and sediment in the alimentary canal. Reproductive biology Gonads : Gonads are yellow in colour, composed of single tuft of tubules, each of which generally has 2 to 3 branches attached to the left side of the dorsal mesentary. From this gonoduct proceeds anteriorly along the mesentary and opens externally on the mid-dorsal line. IS 5'° Jl n=x_ 80 100 120 WO 160 180 ZOO ?202')O2SOe9O30O3?O340 LENSTH (mm) FIG. 1. Distribution (%) of particle size (n) in the gut content of Holothuria scabra. Size frequency distribution The size frequency distribution for H. scabra shows a single mode (Fig. 2 a). The smallest individuals recorded was 90 mm long and the largest was 370 mm with an average 230 mm. Conand (1981) has observed similar Z 2 0 S 16 cc uj 10 a. B 0 Lh 0 100 300 500 700 900 WEIGHT Cgm) IIOO ISOO140O FIG, 2 a. Length frequency distribution of Holothuria scabra. unimodal in the Thelenota ananas and Microthele fuscogilva and they reveal the phenomenon of 'one class in a locahty' (Bakus, 1973). Tyler et al. (1987) have recorded the same structure in Cherbonniera utriculus. FIG. 2 b. Weight frequency distribution of Holothuria scabra. Maturity stages : Five stages of maturity are recognised and they are presented in Table 1 and illustrated in Fig. 3. Stage I & II comprise 6 9onodiol optninq ^ofwchjct ^aiadigl tublei soccgles —^..gonodiat branch . 9onodia( Kibtei FIG. 3. Gonad structure of Holothuria scabra. individuals of undetermined sex. Stage I corresponding to immature individuals and stage II to the maturing ones. Stage III corresponds to the early mature; the sexes can 42 B. K. BASKAR therefore be distinguished by a microscopic examination. Stage IV becomes evident by the increased volume of the gonads and includes late mature. Stage V is the spent and the residual riped oocytes or spermtozoa may be observed. The gonadial tubules are shorter and wider in females, whereas in males the tubules are longer having succules. Tanaka (1958) who has studied the changes in the maturity stages of Stichopus japonicus, observed five stages such as resting, recovery, growing, mature and shedding stage. Conand (1981, 1982) observed five stages in Thelenota ananas, Microthele nobilis, M. fuscogilva and Actinopyga echinites and described the stages such as immatre, resting, growing, mature and post-spawning. Krishnamtirthy and Krishnan (1967) have given an account of the reproductive cycle. Fish (1967) and Rutherford (1973) have also recorded five stages. REFERENCES BAKUS, G. J. 1973. The biology and ecology of tropical holothurian. In : Jones and Endean (Ed.) Biology and Geology of coral reefs. Academic press, New York, 2 : 325-367. CHOPRA, B . 1932. On some decapod crustaceans found in the cloaca of holothurians. Rec. Indian. Mus., 33 : 303-324. CLARK, G. L. 1954. Elements of Ecology. Philadelphia. Saunders. 534 pp. CONAND, C. 1981. Sexual cycle of three commercially important holothurian specie (Echinodermata) from the lagoon of New Caledonia. Bull. Mar. Sci., 3 1 : 523-543. 1982. Reproductive cycle and biometric relations in a population of Actinopyga echinites (Echinodermata) from the lagoon of New Caledonia, Western Tropiced Pacific. In : J. M. Lawrence, Rotterdam, Balkema (Ed.) Echinodermata. Proceedings of the international conference, Tampa Bay. pp. 437-442. FISH, J. D. 1967. The biology of Cucumaria elongata. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U. K., 47 : 129-143. HARDY, E . O. AND M. E . COWAN 1980. Observations on the behaviour and symbiotic relationship of the pearl-fish Encheliophis vumicularis (Oesteichthys : Curapidae). Kalikasan, 9 (223) : 309-312. JAMES, D. B. 1976. Studies on Indian Echinoderm - 6. Redescription of two little known holothurian with a note on early juvenile of Holothuria scabra Jaeger from the Indian seas. J. mar. bid. Ass. India, 18 (1) : 55-61. AND S. MAHADEVAN 1966. Notes on animal associations 5. The pea-crab Pinnotheres deccanensis Chopra inside the respiratory tree of the sea-cucumber Holothuria scabra Jaeger. Ibid., 6 (2) : 249-250. , M. E. RAJAPANDIAN, B. K BASKER AND C. P. GOPINATHAN 1988. Successful induced spawning and rearing of the holothurian Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra Jaeger at Tuticorin. Mar. Fish, Infor. Serv. T & E Ser., 87 : 30-33. KRISHNAMURTHY, S. AND S. KRISHNAN 1967. A report on the reproductive cycle of the holothurian Holothuria scabra. Curr. sci., 36 : 155-156. KRISHNAN, S. 1968. Histochemical studies on the reproductive and nutritional cycles of the Holothurian Holothuria scabra. Mar. Biol., 2 : 54-65. AND S. KRISHNASWAMY 1970. Studies on the transport of sugars in the holothurian Holothuria scabra. Mar. Biol., 5 : 303-306. 1970. Studies on the reproductive and nutritive cycles of Holothuria scabra Jaeger. Ph. D. Thesis, Univ. of Madras, pp. 96. MARY BAI, M. 1971. Regeneration in holothurian Holothuria scabra Jaeger. Indian J. Exp. Biol., 0 : 467-471. 1978. The anatomy and histology of the digestive system of Holothuria scabra Jaeger. J. mar. biol. Ass. India., 20 (1 & 2) : 22-31. 1980. Monograph on Holothuria (Metriatyla) scabra Jaeger. Mem. Zool. surv. India, 16 (2) : 75 pp. MoRTENSEN, T. 1937. Contribution to the study of the development and larval forms of Echinoderms. K. Dan. Vidensk. Selsk. Skr., 9 (7) : 1-65. BIOLOGY OF HOLOTHURIA SCABRA 43 ORGCHE, R. G. AND E . D . GOMEZ 1985. Reproductive periodicity otHolothuria scabra Jaeger at Calostagen, Batangas, Philippines. Asian Mar. Biol., 2 : 21-29. RUTHERFORD, J. C. 1973. Reproduction, growth and mortality of the holothurian Cucumaria pseudocurata. Mar. Biol., 22 : 167-176. TOKUHICA, S. 1915. On Stichopus japonicus in Nanao Bay. Suisan Kenkyushi, 10 (2) : 33-37. TYLER, P. A., D. S. M. BILLETT AND J. D. GAGE 1987. The ecology and reproductive biology of Cherbonniera utriculus and Molpadia blakei from the Northeast Atlantic. J. Mar. Biol. Ass. U. K., 67 : 385-397. TANAKA, Y. 1958. Seasonal changes in the gonad of Stichopus japonicus. Bull. Fac. Fish. Hokkaido. Univ., 9 : 29-36. WALKELEY, A. AND T. A. BLACK 1932. Determination of organic carbon. Soil. Sci., 37 : 9. 

Systematics, biology, ecology

And zoogeography of holothurians: Some observations on the biology of the holothurian

Holothuria (metriatyla) scabra (Jaeger)

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Systematics, biology, ecology And zoogeography of holothurians: Some observations on the biology of the holothurian Holothuria (metriatyla) scabra (Jaeger)

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