Growth and oxygen consumption of the juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) at constant and fluctuating water temperatures

Abstract

The effects of thermal amplitudes of diel fluctuating temperature on growth and oxygen consumption of the juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka) were studied at the average temperatures of 15 and 18 degrees C with three diel different fluctuating amplitudes of +/- 2, +/- 4 and +/- 6 degrees C. The optimum thermal amplitudes for growth of the juvenile sea cucumber at the sizes of this experiment, at average temperatures of 15 and 18 degrees C, were estimated to be +/- 1.38 and +/- 1.67 degrees C respectively. In the constant temperature regimes, the growth rate at 15 degrees C was higher than that at 18 degrees C. However, the growth rate at 18 +/- 2 degrees C was higher than that at 15 +/- 2 degrees C. The results from this study suggested that fluctuating temperatures enhanced the optimum temperature for the growth of sea cucumbers compared with that at constant temperatures. Therefore, accurate predictions of the optimum temperature of sea cucumbers in the natural environment, in which water temperatures fluctuate daily and seasonally, should be made from data obtained at fluctuating temperatures.