• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2011

We have developed a polyculture container which is preferable for rearing of abalones and sea cucumbers in East Sea. To test the rearing capacity of the polyculture container, 50, 75 and 100 sea cucumbers ranging from the body length of 7-9 cm were cultured in three containers including 500 abalones with the shell length of about 5 cm, respectively. It was revealed that preferable density for sea cucumbers was 52-72 individuals in the polyculture container. Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and glutamate pyruvate transaminase were analyzed with Reflotron kit to investigate the health degree of abalones in two polyculture containers including 300 and 500 abalones with the shell length of about 5 cm. Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase has been an important tool to know myocardial infarction, disease of liver, and destruction of muscle. Next experiment was conducted to determine the effects on growth of abalones and sea cucumbers in polyculture container. Experimental findings, RNA/DHA ratio, DNA and RNA contents (ug/mg) were not significantly different among all groups. The results imply that the method of polyculture can be rearing with sea cucumber without growth retardation of abalone. Production ability between polyculture container and the container used in south sea were carried out using suspended culture method during 8months. It was revealed that abalones and sea cucumbers are faster growing in polyculture container than in container used in south sea. Therefore, polyculture container is considered more appropriate for the abalones and sea cucumbers culture in East Sea.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.337-342
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• 2016

Sea cucumbers have been an important part of human diets throughout history; demand is increasing every year, making the species a target for coastal resource development. New harvesting technologies have been developed in response to demand, including nursery production and insemination aquaculture, but such methods produce relatively few individuals and productivity per unit area is very small. For example, captures are prohibited during July and August due to the breeding season, and sea cucumbers aestivate during the hot season and hibernate during the cold season, all factors that limit natural-environment production in Korea. Problems with slow growth of sea cucumbers have been encountered in previous rearing experiments. To assess the importance of feeding ecology on sea cucumber growth, we conducted pond-bottom and lantern-net culture experiments. Results showed that sea cucumbers in bottom cultures grew from 3.06 to 102.59 g, but those in lantern cultures only grew from 25.60 to 28.03 g.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.350-358
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• 1998

The antimutagenic and anticancer activities of glycoprotein(GP) and chondroitin sulfate(CS) from sea cucumbers were studied using Ames mutagenicity test and human cancer cells culture test. The GP's inhibitory effect toward aflatoxin B1(AFB1) and 3, 2'-dimethyl-4-amino-biphenyl(DMAB) increased with the higher added concentrations up to 5% level(w/w) regardless fractionation methods. The GP from sea cucumbers through DEAE-cellulose column chromatography showed an inhibitory effect ranged from 84 to 98%, and the maximum antimutagenicities resulted in red sea cucumber with 98% (AFB1) and 95% (DMAB). But 5% level of CS from various sea cucumbers had an inhibitory effect toward those both indirect mutagens ranged from 79% to 85%. However, in case of direct mutagens(N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, MNNG and 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide, 4-NQO), the GP's inhibitory effect was 55∼78% and the CS had a low inhibitory effect(58∼70%) at the added level of 5%. The GP from sea cucumbers exhibited the strong inhibitory effects with 89∼95% and 82∼92% on the growth of HT-29 human crcinoma cells and AZ-521 human gastric cancer cells (at 5% level).

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.366-371
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• 2017

Six experimental diets for juvenile sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus were evaluated and compared with current commercial diets. Sea cucumbers (50 per tank; initial mean weight $2.3{\pm}0.1g$) in three replicates of seven groups were fed one of six experimental diets (ED1, 20% wild-harvested Sargassum thunbergii powder; ED2, 20% commercial S. thunbergii powder; ED3, 20% Undaria pinnatifida and Ascophyllum nodosum powders; ED4, 40% U. pinnatifida and A. nodosum powders; ED5, 10% brewer's yeast; and ED6, 10% sea shell powder) or a commercial diet (CD) for 28 weeks. The survival rate in all groups was 85-94%, with no significant difference among the experimental groups. The mean body weight of the sea cucumbers was significantly different among the experimental groups 6 weeks after the feeding trial. The final mean weight of the sea cucumbers was highest in ED1, ED3, and ED4, followed by ED6, ED5, ED2, and CD, in decreasing order. The results of this study suggest that U. pinnatifida and A. nodosum powders could provide a substitute for the S. thunbergii powder commonly used in commercial sea cucumber diets. Thus, the EP4 diet formulation, which contains no S. thunbergii, could be used as a practical feed for juvenile sea cucumbers.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.237-244
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• 2013

Bacterial diversities in the guts of sea cucumbers (Apostichopus japonicus) and shrimps (Litopenaeus vannamei) were investigated using barcoded or tag-encoded 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. In sea cucumbers, most of sequences were related to two genera, the genus Propionigenium in the phylum Fusobacteria and an unclassified genus in the family Flavobacteriaceae of phylum Bacteroidetes. Shrimps showed various kinds of genera including Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Prochlorococcus, and Vibrio as well as the unclassified genera in the families, Flavobacteriaceae, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobulbaceae, and Helicobacteraceae and in the order Mycoplasmatales. Unclassified genera containing environmental sequences only are more than half of genera from sea cucumbers and shrimps. Sea cucumbers and shrimps could be unexplored sources of novel microbes and the bacterial diversity of them was revealed by high throughput 454 pyrosequencing.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of practical diets containing different seaweed powders on the growth and body composition of juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. Six experimental diets were formulated to contain 40% of the following seaweed powders: Sargassum thunbergii (ST), Undaria pinnatifida (UP), Ascophyllum nodosum (AN), Hizikia fusiformis (HF), fermented Laminaria japonica (FLJ), and fermented Hizikia fusiformis (FHF). Sea cucumbers (30 per tank; initial mean weight $0.4{\pm}0.01g$) in three replicates of six groups were fed one of the six experimental diets for 15 weeks. Survival in all groups was 83-93%, with no significant differences among the experimental groups. The specific growth rates of the sea cucumbers fed the ST and UP diets were significantly higher than those of sea cucumbers fed the HF, FLJ, and FHF diets, but did not significantly differ from those of sea cucumbers fed the AN diet. The results of this study suggest that S. thunbergii, U. pinnatifida, and A. nodosum could be useful sources of seaweed powder for practical diets of juvenile sea cucumber.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.535-547
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• 2023

Sea cucumbers (Holothuria scabra), also known as beche-de-mer, are highly valued as a luxurious food item and have been utilized as a traditional tonic food in various Asian countries for centuries. The body walls of sea cucumbers are the main edible part, which are primarily composed of glycosaminoglycan (GAG). The rehydration of dried sea cucumber is a crucial step prior to further processing. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of ultrasound-assisted rehydration (UAR) on the quality of dried sea cucumbers. The experiment used four different rehydration methods, including conventional methods at 27℃ (KV27℃) and 15℃ (KV15℃), as well as a combination of ultrasound at 27℃ with conventional at 15℃ (UAR27 + KV15℃) and ultrasound at 15℃ with conventional at 15℃ (UAR15 + KV15℃). Results indicated that the rehydration rate (RR) was significantly affected by both the rehydration method and the temperature used (p < 0.05). UAR27 + KV15℃ was identified as the most effective method in terms of rehydration behavior and quality characteristics of dried sea cucumber, with a RR of 0.58 ± 0.53 gH₂O/hour and reduced rehydration time of up to 28 hours. Moreover, the UAR27 + KV15℃ method demonstrated superior rehydration potential, nutritional value (proximate composition and sulfate content), color, lower energy, and microstructure properties compared to the other methods. The sulfate content and yield of sulfated GAGs were determined to be 89.4 mg/g and 52.8 ㎍/g, respectively. Confirmation of the absorption band of the sulfate group showed the presence of 3-N-acetyl galactosamine at a wavelength of 1,269 cm^-1 and C-O-S at 860 cm^-1. The sea cucumbers treated with UAR exhibited a GAG content approximately 2.9 times higher than those rehydrated with the conventional method. Eventually, the combination of UAR at 27℃ with conventional at 15℃ methods can significantly accelerate the rehydration of sea cucumber without negatively affecting its physical quality properties.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.474-485
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• 2016

This study compared the fatty acid composition of wild and cultured specimens of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. We extracted total lipids from the specimens and determined their fatty acid compositions through capillary gas chromatography, resulting in the identification of 53 fatty acids. We found that wild sea cucumbers were rich in palmitoleic (C16:1n-7) and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n-3), whereas cultured specimens were rich in eicosenoic (C20:1n-9) and arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6). In both types of sea cucumbers, the highest percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) consisted of polar lipids (PL), followed by total lipids (TL) and neutral lipids (NL). Cultured sea cucumbers contained a higher percentage of total lipids (TL) than wild sea cucumbers did, whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups in the percentages of neutral (NL) and polar lipids (PL).

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.264-275
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• 2022

A non-destructive environmental DNA protocol for the genetic analysis of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) resources DNA was established. Among the several commercial DNA extraction kits, the DNeasy^® Plant Mini Kit was selected as the best choice to obtain the high-quality genomic DNAs from the mucous sea cucumber. As the temperature and incubation time increased, the amount of extracted environmental DNA was also large, but it was judged that the increased amount did not affect as much as 2-3 times. Therefore, these conditions were not considered to be the main factors to consider in actual environmental DNA extraction. However, the amount of seawater relative to the size of the sample was judged as a major consideration, and a sufficient amount of environmental DNA for analysis was secured when stored within 1 min while stirring the volume of seawater corresponding to the total sea cucumber weight (g). In securing the environmental DNA of sea cucumbers, the mortality rate of sea cucumbers in all experiments was 0, and it was judged that the effects of sea cucumbers were not significant through this treatment. Through the results of this study, sea cucumber DNA research, which has been conducted in a destructive method, can be conducted non-destructively through environmental DNA analysis. Through this study, we have secured a standard protocol that can successfully extract the sea cucumber DNA through environmental DNA. It is not only excellent in terms of time and cost of traditional DNA analysis method currently used, but it is completely non-destructive in the ecosystem of the survey area. It is believed that the system can be transformed in a way that does not affect it. However, it is thought that various standard protocols should be established considering the characteristics of each type.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2017

The objective of this study was to investigate the growth rate and the optimal stocking density of sea cucumbers. Grow-out was studied in situ by conducting a follow-up survey using visible implant elastomer (VIE) tags. The rearing systems were made of polypropylene pipe for the frames and netting. The experiment ran for 70 days near Yeosu, Korea in the water depth of about 7 m. A total of 576 sea cucumbers which have three groups of body sizes (small: 5.15, medium: 12.34 and large: 23.26 g) were used. The five groups of stocking densities (150, 300, 450, 600 and $850g/m^2$) in rearing system for sea cucumber were considered. Sea cucumbers were fed a mixed diet (mud, mineral, fish meal, etc.). The feed was supplied to 10% of their body wet weight once every 7 days. The survival rate (73%) of sea cucumber in $850g/m^2$ was lower than those of other density groups ($150g/m^2$: 89%, $300g/m^2$: 84%, $450g/m^2$: 78% and $600g/m^2$: 86%). The survival rate of medium size group was higher than those of small and large groups regardless of the density (P<0.05). Most of density groups have no significant difference except for $850g/m^2$ (P>0.05). The growth rate of small size group ($0.63%day^{-1}$) was higher than those of medium ($0.38%day^{-1}$) and large ($0.34%day^{-1}$) group regardless of the density (P<0.05). The threshold water temperature was $11.0^{\circ}C$ for sea cucumber growth in winter season.