Research Information System
FABA 2016 International Symposium on fisheries and Aquatic Science, Antalya, Turkey, 3 - 05 November 2016, pp.284, (Full Text)
Objective: This study was carried out for the determination of sex and sexual development stage of sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) samples collected from Northern Aegean region of Turkey in October 2015 by using histological methods. Present study provides important preliminary data for the further studies targeting the economical evaluation of sea urchin as seafood and further studies on the aquaculture of this species in Turkey.
Methods: A total of 6 sea urchin samples with a mean weight of 54.8 g, mean oral-aboral distance of 2.8 cm and a mean diameter of 4.9 cm were collected from the Aegean Sea coasts of Gelibolu, Çanakkale, Turkey from a depth of 0-1.5 meters. They were brought to laboratory alive and reared in an aquarium prepared with the proper water parameters and supplied with an appropriate substrate. During the study sea urchin samples were fed daily with pellet feed and/or moist feed. For histological examination, sea urchin tissues were fixed in phosphate buffered formalin and Bouin’s fixative comparatively. Later, tissue samples were embedded in paraffin blocks, sections of 5 µm were prepared and stained with hematoxylin & eosin and analyzed under light microscope.
Results and Discussion: With this study, it was observed that sea urchin can be reared successfully in the aquarium when provided proper water conditions, substrate and feed. It was also observed that using Bouin’s fixative provides better results in histological examination. In this study, by using histological methods, it was determined that the sea urchin samples were all female. The presence of undeposited eggs in ovaries, nutritive phagocytes in the lumen and few primer oocytes around the ascinal wall revealed that these sample were in the recovery phase in the development cycle.