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B:'
ea ciicumher5 iPot.rniic.izxap~*swilfirrfle~ibfie,cyfirldz.icai-bodiei;
creatures M 11icii m o \ c siuggisi~lyover I tnt.
ocean floor, using tiiclr feeding tr:niacies to ~ i c izy,
k bood.
These nlariilc i1ibc.rtcbratv are knoi~vri as ecirinodcr~ns,
which means "spiny-skinned", anr?are
!close r$iarivch of the sca urchin and sea
star (Fig. 1). The inside I ' their body
nalis 1la.i. fiie IZIU"~CII: strips r~iiiliiing
froir: rkr fronl rii ilre back. A r the front
enci of t123 il~limal,the n~outini ringed
by fecding tentacles,
One of the i:issei fzatures of seii
czicu~nbersis ttiai many stop feeding in
October c?i. Novenrber and, \?-henexamined, arc S'o:ind to coi~tzinno interma!
organs. Until rcccnrly, i t \+as ci~ougha
[hat tiley sponsameous4y expelled these
body parts, but in fact, the>- simply
atrophy" or I.\ asre away, New internal
c~rgaiib are rng
,e~ieraied in aboui six
~ e e l i b Lfr'ily
.
such organ losscs occrir is
ai~othcr rnysie1.y surrouizding these
interesting creatbireh,
Pas tiley crawl aboii'i, their Piglit
ambcr-cs'ionred ventral surface i s in
coneacr withshe sea bottom, This \;en
Ira1 siirfacc bears many small tube:>i~aped
projections tipped with suckers
called "tube feet". T h e dorsal surface
is covered ivith stiff, conical projections
a ~ i dcan vary grcatiy in csiour from light
red to dark bi:rguedi/ or even rnotileil
Brown. Sea cuc~imbersmay reach 45 cm
i n !enpth and wiccigh more than 1 Lg
9
I, p2ii-y)
Sea Cucumber
ii
Fig. 1. Sea cucumber (Parastichap u s califarnicus)
jS"4hol0: N.A. Sloan)
$i)rr\krrbtltion and Habitat
Sea ~,icurnber<
ale found thnoughout
1 he ileal sl~ore
baker i. o i Brrtish C slaambra
ironl *>xtreme10% tide to depths of more
ehsri 90 rn Phcy only a v o ~ d dreas
egpuicd to high cia\/e ractroii, dnd are
:i.u;nif 011 all t)pe\ of bo'tcrn. from
ii~ilcidg>and to bedrock
Reprodractiorr and Growth
Spav;ning occurs mostly from J u n e to
Augurt anti is accoanplished by shedding
spr:rin and eggs into the water where feriilization taki:s place. During t h i s shedding, sea cricu~ni>ersadopt a ""cobralike" posture, with h e front end
eicv;a:ed o f f tire boltom, The fertilized
eggs debelnp inro larvae which m a y
hpe~zd70 days as plankton suspended i n
tile 'Later before settling on the bouoxn
nrad changing into miniature, juvenile
sea clicirrnhcrc, Juveniles are very secrei i \ f e and hide among sea weed, under
stones, and in crevices. Groivth is
thought to be slow, requiring at Peasr
four lo five years for adult size of 0.5 kg
to bc reached. Their life span inay be
i i ~ o than
r ~ eight year$.
k eeding Habits aaad Predators
Sea ;ucumbcrs browse siowl) over tine
borrom. izcdlng on mniroon ganrsrrrs
ossociafed lzh \edl:neill pal ticies.
7 her?, iihe e a r t h ~ ~ o r ~they
n s , pass out
\irlragt, o i undrgestabie nadterlal such as
sand grams and iheli fragine~its
Adult sea ckiceimber r have few known
piedaton s. filth the exception of tnlee
species of sea stars Tiaesc predators can
;induce ;i v~cpleaztarchnig back-and. forth
c m p e response nn sea cucunlbers, ti hlch
i s t k only time tney rnove rapidly?
Ju\enlies are probabllq more vulnerable
and tills ma? explalrl their secletlve
bthrri~laur
Fisisery
Landings of sea cucuanbers have been
i-ecorded From southern British Culumhia since 1980 and are given in metric
1011s in Table 1 , Harvesting (Fig, 2 )
occurs in less than 18 rn by divers, w h o
gather theill into large mesh bags which
are periodically hauled to the surface
t e s s c i . The east coast of Vaneouter
Island, souell from loi~rzsrone Strait
tiirougi~ .;he Strait of Georgia to
V'icroria, accounts for airnost all rlie
iendings (Fig. 3). The west coast of
Vancouver Island is lightly fished, while
the coast north oi Vancouver island
remains unflshed.
Prilcessors pay up to $0.15 each for
sea cucumbers from wh~chthe main
product 1s the five muscle rirlps from
the ~nsldesurface of the body wail
Domestic and export markets are strll
develop~ng,a situation lvhlch 1s partially
rerponsrbie for the Ructuat~nglandings
The muscle strlps are delicious hen
qurckl) frled In butter, and the domestrc market is expected to grow as more
Canadians become acquainted with this
delicacy Elsewhere in the world the
main product of sea c~lcumberflsberies
1s the whole gutted, dried body wall,
~alled""lepang", M hich 1s used lo make
roup In East Asla. This product rs also
avaliabie ~ n . many North .;*rmer~can
Asian commumtlrs, However, the body
wall of our local species may be too thin
ior dry~ngInto prime quality "trepang".
Fig. 2. Fishermen sorting their
sea cucumber catch
(Photo: B.E. Adkins)
Table 1. Landings of sea etlcumbers.
Year
1980 1981
Landrngslt) 20
27
1982
45
Fig. 3. Sea cucumber fishing
areas of British Columbia
F3RITiSI-I
COLUMBIA
%
MAJOR LANCItNGS
WINOR LANDINGS
1983 1984
527
95
Management
Fisheries management has been careful to control fishing until the biology
of local stocks is more thoroughly
understood. Much of the coast has been
closed to fishing for sea cucumbers, and
is now being opened gradually as more
diving fishermen become interested in
the resource. Fishermen must provide
log records of their fishing activity to
assist managers in acquiring more data
on the abundance and distribution of
the species, Fishermen are now required
to have a special licence for their vessels
to fir11 for sea cucumbers. The animals
can easlly be collected by recreational
divers and in British Columbia, there is
at present no recreational catch limit.
Further Reading:
Cameron, J.L. and P.V. Fankboner.
1984. Tentacle structure and feeding
processes in life stages of the cornrnercia1 sea cucumber Paraslichopils
c ~ l i j o r n ~(Stlmpson),
~us
J. Exp. Mar.
B i d . Ecoi.. 81 : 193-209.
Text:
N A Sloan
Department of F~jherlesand
Oceans
Firherles Research Branch
Pac~flcBlolog~calStation
Nanaino, British Coiumb~a
V8R 5K6
Harbo, R, 1982. Divi~lg Fishermen.
Diver, (June) 20-23.
RilcDaniel, N., 1982. The giant sea
cucumber. Diver, (March) 26-27.
Mcbialr, D., 1982. Fish of the month:
Sea cucumbers. Pcicdtc f i s h ~ n g ,3
(September): 47-52.
Sloai~,N .A., 1985.Echinoderm frslleries of the world: A review. in:
Proceedings of ihe Fifth fn ferncriioncrl
Echinoderm Gotzference, Galway,
Ireland. Ediied by B.F. Keegan, A.A.
Balkenla, Rotterdam, Pages 109-124.
Underwater World factsheets are brief
~ilustrated accounts ol fisher les Iesources and nlanne phenomena prepared for public ri~iorrnatronand educahon. They descr~bethe I ~ f ehlstorq,
geographic dlstnbution, uirll~ationand
populatron status of flsh, shelifrsh and
other living marine resources, and/or
the nature, orlgln and impact of rndrlrie
processes and phei~onlelia
Sloan, h . A . , 1985. Wolid jellyf~shand
Tunlcate Flrheries, and the Northeast
Pactflc Ecil~noderrnFisher y. Canadian Specla1 Publication of Flshenes
and Aquailc Sciences, No 92 (111
press).
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Catalogue Number Fs 41 -33/54-1989E
ISBN 0-662-17400-3