Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T10:23:08.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth rates are related to production efficiencies in juveniles of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2013

L.E. Heflin ,
V.K. Gibbs ,
W.T. Jones ,
R. Makowsky ,
A.L. Lawrence  and
S.A. Watts
L.E. Heflin*
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
V.K. Gibbs
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
W.T. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
R. Makowsky
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biostatistics, Birmingham, AL, USA
A.L. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Texas A&M Mariculture Research Laboratory, Port Aransas, TX, USA
S.A. Watts
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L.E. Heflin, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA email: leheflin@uab.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Growth rates of newly-metamorphosed urchins from a single spawning event (three males and three females) were highly variable, despite being held en masse under identical environmental and nutritional conditions. As individuals reached ~5 mm diameter (0.07–0.10 g wet weight), they were placed in growth trials (23 dietary treatments containing various nutrient profiles). Elapsed time from the first individual entering the growth trials to the last individual entering was 121 days (N = 170 individuals). During the five-week growth trials, urchins were held individually and proffered a limiting ration to evaluate growth rate and production efficiency. Growth rates among individuals within each dietary treatment remained highly variable. Across all dietary treatments, individuals with an initially high growth rate (entering the study first) continued to grow at a faster rate than those with an initially low growth rate (entering the study at a later date), regardless of feed intake. Wet weight gain (ranging from 0.13–3.19 g, P <0.0001, R2 = 0.5801) and dry matter production efficiency (ranging from 25.2–180.5%, P = 0.0003, R2 = 0.6162) were negatively correlated with stocking date, regardless of dietary treatment. Although canalization of growth rate during en masse early post-metamorphic growth is possible, we hypothesize that intrinsic differences in growth rates are, in part, the result of differences (possibly genetic) in production efficiencies of individual Lytechinus variegatus. That is, some sea urchins are more efficient in converting feed to biomass. We further hypothesize that this variation may have evolved as an adaptive response to selective pressure related to food availability.

Keywords

growth rateproduction efficiencysea urchinLytechinus variegatus
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 6 , September 2013 , pp. 1673 - 1683
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agatsuma, Y. (2007) Ecology of Strongylocentrotus nudus. In Lawrence, J.M.. (ed.) Edible sea urchins: biology and ecology. 2nd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, pp. 443–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrew, N.L. and Byrne, M. (2007) Ecology of Centrostephanus. In Lawrence, J.M.. (ed.) Edible sea urchins: biology and ecology. 2nd Edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, pp. 191–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, C.M. and Manwell, C. (1977) Heterozygosity of the sheep: polymorphism of ‘malic enzyme’, isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP+), catalase and esterase. Australian Journal of Biological Science 30, 127–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barendse, W., Reverter, A., Bunch, R.J., Harrison, B.E., Barris, W. and Thomas, M.B. (2007) A validated whole-genome association study of efficient food conversion in cattle. Genetics 176, 1893–1905.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basuyaux, O. and Mathieu, M. (1999) Inorganic nitrogen and its effect on growth of the abalone Haliotis tuberculata Linnaeus and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus Lamarck. Aquaculture 174, 95–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, R., Codd, C., Hebbert, D., Vink, S. and Burt, J. (1984) The functional significance of the relative size of Aristotle's lantern in the sea urchin Echinometra Mathaei (de Blainville). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 77, 81–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, T.A. (1968) Growth rates of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus related to food availability and spine abrasion. Ecology 49, 1075–1091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, T.A. (1975) Growth and mortality of post-larval echinoids. American Zoologist 15, 755–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, T.A. (1980) Relative growth of the sea urchin jaws: an example of plastic resource allocation. Bulletin of Marine Science 30, 467–474.Google Scholar
Ebert, T.A. (1996) Adaptive aspects of phenotypic plasticity in echinoderms. Oceanologica Acta 19, 347–355.Google Scholar
Emmerson, D.A. (1997) Commercial approaches to genetic selection for growth and feed conversion in domestic poultry. Poultry Science 76, 1121–1125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernandez, C. and Boudouresque, C.-F. (1997) Phenotypic plasticity of Paracentrotus lividus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) in a lagoonal environment. Marine Ecology Progress Series 152, 145–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fujio, Y. (1982) A correlation of heterozygosity with growth rate in the pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Tohoku Journal of Agricultural Research 33, 66–75.Google Scholar
Gebhardt-Henrich, S. and Richner, H. (1998) Cause of growth variation and its consequences for fitness. In Starck, J.M. and Ricklefs, R.E. (eds) Avian growth and development; evolution within the altrical–precocial spectrum. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 324–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, V.K. (2011) An evaluation of dietary lipids on growth performance in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea). PhD thesis. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.Google Scholar
Giese, A.C. and Farmanfarmaian, A. (1963) Resistance of the purple sea urchin to osmotic stress. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hale. 124, 182–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, P., Spirlet, Ch. and Jangoux, M. (1996) Experimental study of growth in the echinoid Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) (Echinodermata). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 201, 173–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagen, N.T. (2008) Enlarged lantern size in similar-sized, sympatric, sibling species of strongylocentrotid sea urchins: from phenotypic accommodation to functional adaptation for durophagy. Marine Biology 153, 907–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heflin, L.E., Gibbs, V.K., Powell, M.L., Makowsky, R., Lawrence, J.M., Lawrence, A.L. and Watts, S.A. (2012a) Effect of dietary protein and carbohydrate levels on weight gain and gonad production in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. Aquaculture 358–359, 253–261.Google ScholarPubMed
Heflin, L.E., Gibbs, V.K., Powell, M.L., Makowsky, R., Lawrence, J.M., Lawrence, A.L. and Watts, S.A. (2012b) Effect of diet quality on nutrient allocation to the test and Aristotle's lantern in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus (Lamarck, 1816). Journal of Shellfish Research 31, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heflin, L.E. and Watts, S.A. (2012) Effect of stocking density on growth and morphology in juvenile Lytechinus variegatus. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science. 82, 66–67.Google Scholar
Hinegardner, R.T. (1969) Growth and development of the laboratory cultured sea urchin. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hale. 137, 465–475.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jarrett, J.N. and Pechenik, J.A. (1997) Temporal variation in cyprid quality and juvenile growth capacity for an intertidal barnacle. Ecology 78, 1262–1265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, W.T., Powell, M.L., Gibbs, V.K., Hammer, H.S., Lawrence, J.M., Fox, J., Lawrence, A.L. and Watts, S.A. (2010) The effect of dietary selenium on weight gain and gonad production in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 41, 675–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, W.T. (2011) The effects of supplemental dietary vitamins on weight gain and organ production in the variegated sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea). PhD thesis. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.Google Scholar
Koehn, R.K., Gaffney, P.M (1984) Genetic heterozygosity and growth rate in Mytilus edulis. Marine Biology 82, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, D.C.C., Lau, S.C.K., Qian, P.-Y. and Qiu, J.-W. (2009) Morphological plasticity and resource allocation in response to food limitation and hyposalinity in a sea urchin. Journal of Shellfish Research 28, 383–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J.M. and Lane, J.M. (1982) The utilization of nutrients by post-metamorphic echinoderms. In Jangoux, M. and Lawrence, J.M. (eds) Echinoderm nutrition. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: A.A. Balkema, pp. 331–371.Google Scholar
Lawrence, J.M. and Bazhin, A. (1998) Life-history strategies and the potential of sea urchins for aquaculture. Journal of Shellfish Research 17, 1515–1522.Google Scholar
Levitan, D.R. (1991) Skeletal changes in the test and jaws of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in response to food limitations. Marine Biology 111, 431–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, X.L., Chang, Y.Q., Xiang, J.H., Song, J. and Cao, X.B. (2003) Heritability of juvenile growth for the sea urchins Strongylocentrotus intermedius. Journal of Fishery Sciences of China 10, 206–211. [In Chinese with English abstract.]Google Scholar
Liu, X.L., Chang, Y.Q., Xiang, J.H. and Cao, X.B. (2005) Estimates of genetic parameters of growth traits of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus intermedius. Aquaculture 243, 27–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McShane, P.E. and Anderson, O.F. (1997) Resource allocation and growth rates in the sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus (Echinoidea: Echinometridae). Marine Biology 128, 657–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minor, M.A. and Scheibling, R.E. (1997) Effects of food ration and feeding regime on growth and reproduction of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Marine Biology 129, 159–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, H., Jutare, T., Bauer, J.C. and Jones, J.A. (1963) The biology of Lytechinus variegatus. Bulletin of Marine Science of the Gulf and Caribbean 13, 23–53.Google Scholar
Nkrumah, J.D., Sherman, E.L., Li, C., Marques, E., Crews, D.H. Jr., Bartusiak, R., Murdoch, B., Wang, Z., Basarab, J.A. and Moore, S.S. (2007) Primary genome scan to identify putative quantitative trait loci for feedlot growth rate, feed intake, and feed efficiency of beef cattle. Journal of Animal Science 85, 3170–3181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pawson, D.L. and Miller, J.E. (1982) Studies of genetically controlled phenotypic characters in laboratory-reared Lytechinus variegatus (Lamarck) (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) from Bermuda and Florida. In Lawrence, J.M. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Echinoderm Conference, University of South Florida, Tampa Bay, FL. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: A.A. Balkema, pp. 165–171.Google Scholar
Piles, M., Gomez, E.A., Rafel, O., Ramon, J. and Blasco, A. (2004) Elliptical selection experiment for the estimation of genetic parameters of the growth rate and feed conversion ratio in rabbits 1. Journal of Animal Science 82, 654–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, M.L., Watts, S.A. and Lawrence, A.L. (2008) Researchers overcoming learning curve for production of sea urchin seedstock. Global Aquaculture Advocate September–October, 103–104.Google Scholar
Richardson, C.M. (2010) Factors leading to cannibalism in Lytechinus variegatus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) in the laboratory. MS thesis. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.Google Scholar
Richardson, C.M., Lawrence, J.M. and Watts, S.A. (2011) Factors leading to cannibalism in Lytechinus variegatus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) held in intensive culture. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 399, 68–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D.L. and Oddy, V.H. (2004) Genetic parameters for feed efficiency, fatness, muscle area and feeding behavior of feedlot finished beef cattle. Livestock Production Science 90, 255–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, M.P. and Meredith, R.W. (2000) Natural growth lines in echinoid ossicles are not reliable indicators of age: a test using Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Invertebrate Biology 119, 410–420CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schenkel, F.S., Miller, S.P. and Wilton, J.W. (2004) Genetic parameters and breed differences for feed efficiency, growth, and body composition traits of young beef bulls. Canadian Journal of Animal Sciences 84, 177–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sewalem, A., Morrice, D.M., Law, A., Windsor, D., Haley, C.S., Ikeobi, C.O.N., Burt, D.W. and Hocking, P.M. (2002) Mapping of quantitative trait loci for body weight at three, six and nine weeks of age in a broiler layer cross. Poultry Science 81, 1775–1781.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siikavuopio, S.I., Dale, T. and Mortensen, A. (2007) The effects of stocking density on gonad growth, survival and feed intake of adult green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis). Aquaculture 262, 78–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, S.M. and Zouros, E. (1978) Genetic variation associated with growth rate in the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica). Evolution 32, 342–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, A.M. (2006) Effects of dietary carbohydrates on weight gain and gonad production in small sea urchins, Lytechinus variegatus. MS thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.Google Scholar
Vadas, R.L. Sr, Smith, B.D., Beal, B. and Dowling, T. (2002) Sympatric growth morphs and size bimodality in the green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis). Ecological Monographs 72, 113–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kaam, J.B.C.H.M., Groenen, M.A.M. and Bovenhuis, H. (1999) Whole genome scan in chickens for quantitative trait loci affecting growth and feed efficiency. Poultry Science 78, 15–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, W., Zhao, C., Chen, M., Chang, Y.Song, J. and Luo, S. (2012) Family growth response to different laboratory culture environments shows genotype–environment interaction in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius. Aquaculture Research 1–9.Google Scholar
Zouros, E., Singh, S.M. and Miles, H.E. (1980) Growth rate in oysters: an overdominant phenotype and its possible explanations. Evolution 34, 856–867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed