Four new triterpene glycosides, variegatusides C-F (1-4), together with three structurally known triterpene glycosides, variegatusides A and B (5, 6), and holothurin B (7), were isolated from the sea cucumber Stichopus variegates Semper (Holothuriidae), collected from the South China Sea. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectral analysis (nuclear magnetic resonance (N...

Eelgrass ecosystems have a wide variety of ecological functions in which living tissues and detritus may be a food source for many marine animals. In this study, we conducted a laboratory simulating experiment to understand the trophic relationship between the eelgrass Zostera marina L and the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. A mixture of decaying eelgrass debris and seafloor surface muddy ...

BACKGROUND Recent genomic information has revealed that neuroglobin and cytoglobin are the two principal lineages of vertebrate hemoglobins, with the latter encompassing the familiar myoglobin and α-globin/β-globin tetramer hemoglobin, and several minor groups. In contrast, very little is known about hemoglobins in echinoderms, a phylum of exclusively marine organisms closely related to vertebr...

Parastichopus parvimensis and P. californicus, two ecologicallysimilar species of sea cucumber, are the only sea cucumber fisheries in California.1 Aside from the economic importance that this distinction affords them, the two also play an important ecological role as subtidal, benthic detritivores.1, 2 Though some ecological distinctions between the two species exist – P. californicus, notably...

Sediment, which is central as a sink for organic material and nutrient cycling, provides habitat for feeding, resting, and nesting of sea cucumbers in aquaculture systems. We conducted a 2 mo experiment to investigate the optimal sea mud to sand ratios in sediment for sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka, 1867) aquaculture. Sea mud (<0.08 mm) and sand (0.08−0.5 mm) were used to prepare ...

In this study, commercial sea cucumber identification and some biological characteristics were investigated between Ayvalık and Çeşme. Ayvalık, Aliağa, Foça, Şakran and İzmir were selected as main stations. In the investigation where 70 stations were studied between 0 and 50 m depth 6 sea cucumber species were found. These were Holothuria tubulosa, Holothuria polii, Holothuria mammata, Holothur...

Background: Holothuroids (sea cucumbers) are members of the phylum echinodermata, which produce saponins. Saponins exhibit a wide spectrum of pharmacological and biological activities. In this study, we isolated the crude saponins from the body wall of the dominant Iranian species of sea cucumber, Holothuria leucospilota (H. leucospilota). The purpose of this study was to confirm the presence o...

Two new holostan-type triterpenoid oligoglycosides, named parvimosides A (1) and B (2), were isolated from the warty sea cucumber Stichopus parvimensis (syn. Parastichopus parvimensis). Their structures and total assignments of the proton and carbon signals were established on the basis of spectral evidence, mainly 1H and 13C 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy including DEPT, COSY, TOCSY, NOESY/ROESY, ...

Tropical commercial sea cucumber Stichopus horrens is extensively distributed throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific region, and wild stocks have been severely depleted over the past decade. In this study, we used the microsatellite enrichment library of S. horrens to identify and characterize 13 microsatellite loci, including 11 polymorphic loci and 2 monomorphic loci. Among the 11 polymorphic l...