Detailed Explanation of Key Points in Artificial Sea Cucumber Farming Techniques

The sea cucumber's entire body is covered with fleshy spines, and it is widely distributed across the world's oceans. Along the coast of the South China Sea in China, there are relatively many species, with about twenty or more kinds of sea cucumber available for consumption. The sea cucumber ranks alongside ginseng, bird's nest, and shark fin, and is one of the world's eight great delicacies. The sea cucumber is not only a precious food, but also a valuable medicinal material.

Shrimp Pond Farming

Using existing shrimp ponds, place tiles, stones, old tires, and other materials as artificial sea cucumber reefs for the sea cucumbers to inhabit.

The stocking density for juvenile sea cucumbers is about 5 cm in body length, with 3000 to 5000 seedlings per mu.

Sea cucumbers feed on benthic diatoms, organic debris, and other matter attached to the reefs. At the same time, artificial compound feed can be given, or algae such as Sargassum thunbergii, wakame, and kelp can be fed.

The water depth of the shrimp pond should be maintained at 1.5 m to 2.0 m. In summer and winter, the water level should be raised to a high level to facilitate the sea cucumbers' smooth aestivation and overwintering.

It is strictly forbidden to apply chemical disinfectants or discharge oil pollution into the shrimp pond to prevent the sea cucumber bodies from autolysing. Attention must also be paid to the pond water's temperature and salinity. When taking in water, close attention must be paid to the water environment around the pond to ensure the daily water exchange rate of the pond is 10% to 15%.

Offshore Raft Farming

The sea area should have smooth tidal currents, no major wind and wave impacts, and no pollution from industrial or domestic sewage.

For farming, abalone cages, scallop cages, and plastic barrels are generally used, and most are co-cultured with abalone. The sea cucumber seedlings are about 5 cm in body length, with a density of 200 to 300 per sq m, hung at a water depth of 5 m to 8 m, with a cage spacing of 3 m to 4 m.

The feed is Sargassum thunbergii, kelp, or artificial compound feed. The density should be gradually reduced as the individual sea cucumbers grow, and the degree of damage to the mesh cages should be checked at any time.

Before typhoons or storm surges arrive, the cages and nets should be sunk in time to avoid losses.

Sea cucumbers raised on offshore rafts can also be co-cultured with algae.

Seabed Sunken Cage Farming

Choose an inner bay sea area with smooth tidal currents, calm winds and waves, and no large influx of freshwater. Make mesh cages from thick steel bars, which can be round or rectangular, covered with netting on the outside, and with several stones placed inside (3 kg to 5 kg each).

The stocking density is 200 to 300 seedlings of 3 cm to 5 cm per sq m. The feed is artificial compound feed or kelp, Sargassum thunbergii, and so on. Depending on the situation, feed once every 3 to 5 days, or once a week.

In daily management, pay attention to damage to the netting, and promptly reduce density according to the speed of sea cucumber growth.

Disease Prevention and Control

Sea cucumbers are comparable to ginseng in having relatively high nutritional value and medicinal value, and they also have relatively high economic benefits, so sea cucumbers have become a choice for many entrepreneurs. What are the symptoms and diagnostic methods when trematode disease occurs during sea cucumber farming?

[Pathogen] There are currently 16 genera and 33 species of gastropods, among which there are 6 species of the genus Enteroxenos, 5 species of the genus Megadenus, 4 species of the genus Balcis, and the remaining 13 genera each have 1 to 3 species.

[Symptoms] Gastropods parasitize the body surface, body cavity, digestive tract, respiratory tree, and other tissues and organs of the sea cucumber. The deep-sea pea snail (Pisolamia brychius) parasitizes Oneirophanata mutabilis. The deep-sea pea snail uses its proboscis to attach to the body surface of Oneirophanata mutabilis, and uses the proboscis to pierce into the body wall of the sea cucumber, passing through the body wall to reach the body cavity. It uses the proboscis to feed on nutrients from the parasitic tissues, body cavity, and blood, and a swelling appears at the site where the proboscis penetrates the body wall.

[Diagnosis] Diagnosis can be made by taking tissues from diseased sea cucumbers for microscopic examination and finding the pathogen.