New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Reproductive biology of Holothuria leucospilota in the Cook Islands
and the implications of traditional fishing of gonads on the population
Darrin J. Drumm1,2
Neil R. Loneragan2,*
1Department of Marine Science
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand
email: darrin.drumm@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
2CSIRO Marine Research
Cleveland Marine Laboratories
Cleveland
QLD 4163, Australia
*Present address: Centre for Fish and Fisheries, Murdoch University,
Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
Abstract This study describes
the reproductive biology of Holothuria leucospilotain Rarotonga, Cook
Islands and assesses the effect of traditional fishing on survival and reproduction.
Monthly collections of H. leucospilota from January 1998 until March 1999
revealed that gametogenesis and spawning were synchronous between the sexes
and spawning occurred annually during the summer months. Spawning during the
first year had already started at the beginning of the study in January and
lasted until April, whereas in the second year, spawning started in November
and finished in February, possibly because of higher water temperatures in
this year. Our data indicate that the incision of the body-wall and gonad
removal had no impact on the survival of H. leucospilota in cages.
However, their body weight, general sheltering and feeding behaviours were
affected by gonad removal. Although the body-wall of fished animals healed
within 7-14 days, the gonads had just started to regenerate after 41 days,
suggesting that the spawning of fished individuals would have been greatly
delayed, possibly until the following year.
Keywords Holothuria leucospilota; traditional fishing;
gonad removal; reproduction; gametogenesis; regeneration; matu rori; Cook
Islands
M04001; Online publication date 18 February 2005
Received 9 January 2004; accepted 8 October 2004
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39:
141–156
0028-8330/05/3901-0141 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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