I'm trying to collect wild animals for ecological and aquaculture research and there seems to be very few of these in Sarasota Florida where we have subtropical weather. The only place we have found any is in a specific shallow Thalassia seagrass habitat near deeper pass water during Summer and Fall. I suspect the population is low and might be recruitment limited but maybe there are more animals in deeper water. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
Nathan,
I am not aware of any migratory studies for Isostichopus badionotus but perhaps the two attached papers may give you some information on the types of habitats you may target to find your specimens. In their study on the distribution of I. badionotus in Panama, Guzman and Guevare 2002 found no difference in sea cucumber abundance between depths ( 0.5 to 5 m and 5 to 10 m).
Hope this help a bit.
Tomas
Hi Tom, I have seen these refs, but this does help and I do appreciate your assistance on this. I. badionotus appear to be very patchy in distribution probably due to poor recruitment and low population levels. Their population decline due to high fishing pressure is concerning as they appear to be important reef sediment processors. Their presence in my systems looks to have a functional stabilizing influence on water chemistry. Thanks again for your help!
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