Allometric relationships to assess ontogenetic adaptative changes in three NE Atlantic commercial sea cucumbers (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea)
Abstract
Holothuria arguinensis, Holothuria mammata and Holothuria forskali are three common sea cucumber species found in the NE Atlantic, traded in international markets and susceptible to capture. Allometric relationships reveal if the scaling relationships between biometric characters are proportional with growth, being a useful tool to understand species growth strategies. Allometric relationships of the three species were estimated and compared between them and with populations from different regions. These allometric relationships revealed that the three species have negative allometric growth. However, they have different growth strategies between them and reveal different regional intra-specific growth strategies when compared to other populations, suggesting ontogenetic adaptation as a consequence of external factors.
Citation
Azevedo e Silva , F , Brito , A C , Simões , T , Pombo , A , Marques , T A , Rocha , C , Sousa , J , Venâncio , E & Félix , P M 2021 , ' Allometric relationships to assess ontogenetic adaptative changes in three NE Atlantic commercial sea cucumbers (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea) ' , Aquatic Ecology , vol. 55 , no. 2 , pp. 711-720 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-021-09856-3
Publication
Aquatic Ecology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1386-2588Type
Journal article
Description
This study was financed by the Operational Program Mar2020 nº MAR-02.01.01-FEAMP-0052 “Newcumber—Avanços para o cultivo sustentável de pepinos-do-mar”. It received further financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia with project UIDB/04292/2020; A.C. Brito and A. Pombo through the Scientific Employment Stimulus Programmes (CEECIND/00095/2017 and CEECINST/00051/2018); and Francisco Azevedo e Silva through the individual research Grant 2020.09563.BD; Also, T. A. Marques and C. Rocha thank partial support by CEAUL (funded by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UIDB/00006/2020).Collections
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