Maturation culture and spawning induction of banded sea urchin Echinothrix calamaris (Pallas,1774)

Abstract

This study conducted to determine an appropriate feed for broodstock culture, and concentration of potassium chloride (KCl 2M) for spawning induction of banded sea urchin Echinotrix calamaris. For the first experiment, banded sea urchin were feed on three different types of feed: 100% formulated diet (T1), 100% fresh seaweed Gracilaria sp (T2), and alternative feeding of T1 and T2. The results showed that no matured sea urchin were found in all feed trials, but the highest survival rate (77.78%) was found for treatments 2 and 3, whereas the lowest one occurred in T1 (55.56%) after 60 days. Growth in weight and shell diameter of banded sea urchin had no significant differences (P>0.05) among treatments. However, the growth in height was significantly difference (P<0.05) among treatments. Experiment 2 was conducted with four concentration of KCl 2M including 0.5 ml, 1 ml, 1.5 ml, and 2 ml. Results indicated that there was no spawning occurring by using 0.5 ml, 1 ml, and 1.5 ml KCl 2M. The spawning,fertilization and hatching rate of injecting 2ml KCl 2M method were found at 60.43±4.87%, 65.5±5.77%, and 80.6±5.3%, respectively. Thus, the results of this study suggested that formulated feed and/or alternative feeding with fresh sea weed could be used as potential used for maturation culture and injection of 2.0 mL KCl (2.0 M) method could be used for spawning induction of banded sea urchin.