The respiration and excretion in sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus with various body weights

The respiration and excretion were monthly determined in the different developmental stages of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus from June in 2008 to May in 2009.It was found that temperature showed significant effect on the oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion at different developmental stages(P0.05),and at the same temperature,body weight had also regular influence on the oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion.The oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion were found to be steady rise in the small sea cucumber with body weight of less than 12 g at water temperature between 12.7 ℃ and 16.2 ℃,and to be sharp increase at 16.2-22.1 ℃,the maximum of(37.13±1.33)μg/(g·h) for oxygen consumption and(0.55± 0.054)μg /(g·h) for ammonia excretion at 22.1 ℃.For the large sea cucumber,however,the oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion were found to be steady rise between 12.7 ℃ and 16.2 ℃,the maximal oxygen consumption of(33.99±0.59)μg/(g·h) and ammonia excretion of(0.49± 0.047)μg/(g·h) being observed at 16.2 ℃.Between 16.2 ℃ and 22.1 ℃,the rates were decreased promptly to the low level and at 22.1-26.1 ℃,the rates was found to be steadily low,the minimal oxygen consumption of(6.75±0.41)μg/(g·h) and ammonia excretion of(0.11±0.028)μg/(g·h) appearing at 26.1 ℃.