Search

It is imperative to develop aquaculture methods for the tropical sea cucumber, Stichopus fusiformiossa as it is an essential component for the pharmaceutical and traditional medicine industry in Malaysia. With sea cucumber stocks harvested freely, conservation efforts should be in place to overcome future depletion or loss of populations in the wild. This study represents the first report to induce spawning of S. fusiformiossa using conventional methods (thermal shock, desiccation, microalgae stimulation) and neurotransmitter injections (serotonin, 1-methyladenine, epinephrine, norepinephrine) in an indoor based aquaculture system. Post induction, the sea cucumbers were observed for 8 hours. They displayed classic sea cucumber pre-spawning behaviours, namely, raising their head, swaying the anterior (side to side, back and forth, head spinning/circling) and prominent visibility of the gonopore. All neurotransmitters used successfully triggered the pre-spawning behaviours, with the group induced with 1-methyladenine remaining active throughout the observation period. During the first 10 minutes (0 hr) of neurotransmitter injection, 1-methyladenine induced group had more than 50 % of the animals with visible gonopores. Generally, body-raising behaviour was observed across all treatments at 0 hr. On the other hand, swaying behaviour was displayed more frequently in all neurotransmitter induced groups, although it remained below 40 % in each case. No swaying action was revealed in the group with raised temperature and microalgae stimulation treated group. While all treatments showed varying degrees of promising pre-spawning behaviour, none spawned during the observation duration. Histology of male and female gonad development stages were also examined randomly. This study describes challenges faced during spawning induction and general maintenance of stichopodid sea cucumbers which potentially undergo autolysis or melting of their external body wall due to physical stress. Utilization of neurotransmitters was unsuccessful; however, the findings from this study paves way for further avenues of research to elucidate the spawning induction techniques of S. fusiformiossa.

Plastic pollution is both a societal and environmental problem and citizen science has shown to be a useful tool to engage both the public and professionals in addressing it. However, knowledge on the educational and behavioral impacts of citizen science projects focusing on marine litter remains limited. Our preregistered study investigates the impact of the citizen science project Citizen Observation of Local Litter in coastal ECosysTems (COLLECT) on the participants’ ocean literacy, pro-environmental intentions and attitudes, well-being, and nature connectedness, using a pretest-posttest design. A total of 410 secondary school students from seven countries, in Africa (Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria) and Asia (Malaysia) were trained to sample plastics on sandy beaches and to analyze their collection in the classroom. Non-parametric statistical tests (n = 239 matched participants) demonstrate that the COLLECT project positively impacted ocean literacy (i.e., awareness and knowledge of marine litter, self-reported litter-reducing behaviors, attitudes towards beach litter removal). The COLLECT project also led to higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions for students in Benin and Ghana (implying a positive spillover effect) and higher well-being and nature connectedness for students in Benin. Results are interpreted in consideration of a high baseline in awareness and attitudes towards marine litter, a low internal consistency of pro-environmental attitudes, the cultural context of the participating countries, and the unique settings of the project’s implementation. Our study highlights the benefits and challenges of understanding how citizen science impacts the perceptions and behaviors towards marine litter in youth from the respective regions.

The Citizen Observation of Local Litter in coastal ECosysTems (COLLECT) project (2021-2022) is a citizen science initiative, supported by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), which aimed to acquire distribution and abundance data of coastal plastic litter in seven countries: in Africa (Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria) and Asia (Malaysia). In this paper, we describe the workflow used to establish and run this project, as well as the methodologies to acquire data. The COLLECT project consisted of training local students (15 - 18 years old) from ten second cycle institutions (“high schools”) on sampling and analyzing macro-, meso- and microplastics in beach sediments, using a quantitative assessment protocol. We further describe in detail the methodologies applied in assessing the impact of participating in the activities from a social sciences perspective. All documents and materials resulting from this project will be open access and available according to the FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). The results and outcomes from COLLECT will contribute to expanding knowledge and establishing baseline information on coastal plastic pollution, with citizen science being an enabler of open science, allowing data to be freely available to the public, academics and policymakers. Expected results from the use of the COLLECT protocol globally will further contribute to the identification of hotspots of coastal plastic litter, and bring awareness to local communities on the potential consequences of plastic pollution. The COLLECT project actively contributes with data suitable to survey plastic litter to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), in particular to SDG 14, on the sustainable use of the ocean.

Mantis shrimps are stomatopod crustaceans yet to be successfully cultured on a commercial scale due to several impediments, namely their aggressive behaviour in a communal setting and a lack of understanding on their feeding regime during different life stages in captivity. Local adult mantis shrimp, Miyakella nepa (Latreille, 1828), were observed in laboratory conditions to obtain baseline data of feeding preference behaviour. M. nepa were kept individually, with tube shelter provided, either with or without sand substrate, to understand their burrowing behaviour (n = 16). Most of the stomatopods remained within the tube (>90% of observation time) during pre-feeding but ventured out of the shelter (47–60% of observation time) when feed was provided. They were presented with one or two types of natural feed to identify affinity towards specific food. During the 15-minute observation, mantis shrimps (n = 20) were placed in a testing arena and presented with natural feed. The fastest time for mantis shrimps to approach feed, indicating attractiveness, is fish, clam, shrimp, squid and then polychaetes. About 57% made an approach towards the squid, but none of them managed to consume it. Subsequent feeding preference observation included a combination of two diets presented at the same time: fish-shrimp, fish-clam, fish-polychaete, shrimp-clam, shrimp-polychaete, and clam-polychaete. Observations of M. nepa feeding preference in captivity revealed that they can consume several types of feed. It is recommended to provide fish as they were preferred to all other types of diets comparatively when presented without other food choice, and/or clams as they indicated high attractiveness due to short approach time when presented with choice. Mantis shrimps are considered opportunistic predators in the wild and M. nepa do not show a clear pattern with significant difference of preference towards any single type of natural feed presented in the laboratory setting.