Habitat preference of sea cucumbers:Holothuria atraandHolothuria edulisin the coastal waters of Sri Lanka
| Autor: | D.C.T. Dissanayake, Gunnar Stefansson |
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| Rok vydání: | 2011 |
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| Zdroj: | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 92:581-590 |
| ISSN: | 1469-7769 0025-3154 |
| Popis: | Despite their economic importance, the ecology of many sea cucumber species is poorly understood and factors influencing their habitat preferences remain largely unexplained. The distribution and habitat preference of two sea cucumber species;Holothuria atraandHolothuria eduliswere studied off the north-west coast of Sri Lanka by underwater visual census in October 2008. The relationships between the density of each species and the habitat variables, such as mean grain size, organic content (% of dry weight), gravel (%), silt–mud (%), and depth, were examined using a generalized additive model. All these variables except silt–mud have significant influence (P H. atra. The shallow water (H. atra. High densities ofH. eduliswere found in the shallow (H. eduliswere mainly similar to the conditions preferred byH. atra, except organic content which did not significantly influence the habitat preference of this species. The preference towards the specific habitat characteristics seems to be associated with their feeding and protection. An understanding of habitat preference would be useful to improve the management of these sea cucumber populations and enable more precise stock assessment. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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