Abstract:
This study was performed to explore the distribution and resources of natural sea cucumbers in the inshore aquaculture area in Pingtan District (Fujian Province, China). The study conducted surveys to collect information on species, biology, resource amount, fishing amount, and fishing output value of sea cucumbers in the coastal aquaculture area of Pingtan in April, May, and June 2023. Moreover, the samples of sea cucumbers (n=242) were sampled and used for classification. The results showed that all samples were identified as
Apostichopus japonicus. Biological measurement results showed that sea cucumbers collected in April, May, and June reveal average body lengths of (131.7±44.3), (150.1±40.6) and (114.9±28.3) mm, average body weights of (52.2±41.6), (108.3±55.9), (56.1±32.2) g, feeding levels of 3~4, 1~4, and 0~3, respectively. Furthermore, the questionnaire survey results of six fishing boats showed that the average sea cucumber catch per boat in April, May, and June was 1 050.0, 683.3, and 233.3 kg, respectively.This is the first report on the possible existence of a self-propagating population of sea cucumber in Pingtan sea area,which provides information on the resources of sea cucumber in Fujian Province.