Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

AQUACULTURE OF PURPLE SEA URCHINS AND GIANT RED SEA CUCUMBERS IN BRTISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

A. Kalam Azad*, Christopher M. Pearce, and R. Scott McKinley

 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Pacific Biological Station

3190 Hammond Bay Road

Nanaimo, BC, Canada, V9T 6N7

kalamazad.ubc@gmail.com

 



 Sea urchins and sea cucumbers form the basis of lucrative fisheries and an expanding  commercial  aquaculture industry in many parts of the world. Despite their huge potential and considerable interest,  commercial aquaculture of these echinoderms is still in  its infancy  in North America. Little is known about the early  stages (larvae/juveniles) of either the purple sea urchin ( Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) or the giant red sea cucumber (Apostichopus californicus), both candidates for aquaculture in British Columbia, Canada.  Increasing  larval survival and settlement rates and maximizing post-settlement survival and growth  are major challenges in the development of juvenile production technology and profitable aquaculture ventures , but t he reliable techniques for hatchery production of  echinoderms have been developed for relatively few species. This presentation will focus on various aspects of larval and juvenile production techniques of  both the purple sea urchin and giant  red sea cucumber. We tested a variety of microalgal diets for larval survival, growth, and settlement. The single- species  diet of Dunaliella tertiolecta and the mixed- species diet  of  D. tertiolecta and Isochrysis galbana supported  good growth and survival both for sea urchins and sea cucumbers . The sea cucumber larvae were induced to settle and metamorphose successfully using settlement plates coated with Spirulina  and  the  benthic diatom Amphora salina.