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Rights Statements InC/1.0 , Open Access
Journal article
Preliminary studies on the gonadal enhancement of giant red sea urchins taken from barrens in British Columbia
Northwest science., Vol.75(3), pp.327-332
2001
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/946
Abstract
We collected giant red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) in barrens habitat with the intent of enhancing them for market. We placed the urchins in enclosures and provided them with giant kelp (Macrocystis integrifolia) for the 83-day period between 20 March 1998 and 12 June 1998. Sea urchins that were fed giant kelp had a final gonad index of 8.3, whereas the donor population had initial and final gonad indices of 2.9 and 3.5, respectively. In addition, the proportion of individuals displaying a state of starvation via dark brown gonads was significantly lower after feeding compared to the donor population at the end of the experiment (2% and 17%, respectively). These results suggest that food limitation is an important factor in the gonadal development of this urchin population. Moreover, the findings suggest that the urchin resource can be expanded to include barren habitats. Urchins taken from barrens can be quickly enhanced before being sent to market.
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Details
- Title
- Preliminary studies on the gonadal enhancement of giant red sea urchins taken from barrens in British Columbia
- Creators
- R.C. Mooney (Author)F.L. Bunnell (Author)
- Publication Details
- Northwest science., Vol.75(3), pp.327-332
- Academic Unit
- Northwest Science
- Publisher
- WSU Press
- Identifiers
- 99900503101001842
- Copyright
- In copyright ; openAccess ; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ ; http://purl.org/eprint/accessRights/OpenAccess
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article