Sea cucumber (<i>Holothuria tubulosa</i> Gmelin, 1790) culture under marine fish net cages for potential use in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA)
749-756In this study, integrated aquaculture of Mediterranean sea cucumber species Holothuria tubulosa under finfish net cages was investigated. To evaluate whether H.tubulosa can be reared under net cage farms without additional feed and to compare growth performances, three underwater ranches (10x10m), just below a net cage (A), between the net cages (B) and 750 m away from the net cage systems (K) were set. Fifty sea cucumbers (92.81±2.29 g) were placed into each research station and growth performances like specific growth rate (SGR) and weight gain were observed for 90 days. SGR of sea cucumbers in stations A, B and K were 0.32±0.04, 0.22±0.02 and 0.10±0.01 %/d, respectively. The highest mean weight gain 31.11±0.84 g was recorded at station A where the lowest was in station K as 8.89±0.12 g. Organic carbon and organic material amount of research stations significantly affected the final mean weights of sea cucumbers where the highest growth was determined at the stations A and B. The results suggest that integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems combined with finfish and sea cucumber H. tubulosa under net cages would provide by-products to aquaculture farms without an extra feed costs in the Mediterranean Sea
