IMTA applications with mediterranean sea cucumbers: progress and problems

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is a new generation aquaculture that allows for the reduction of environmental impacts, higher profits and the diversification of commercial production. This integrative approach, in fact, offers a natural means of encouraging nutritional recycling within aquaculture farms, simulating a natural community through the employment of extractive species with a low trophic level and high market value. In this context, sea cucumbers as deposit feeders species could represent promising candidates for co-culture in IMTA, considering their feeding habits and high market value. However, although their ecological role in many marine habitats and their feeding behaviour seem highly promising and compatible with extensive integration, there are only a few investigations available regarding the co-culture of Mediterranean sea cucumbers in productive systems (Tolon et al., 2017; Neofitou et al., 2019; Grosso et al 2021; Bastien Sadoul et al., 2022; Cutajar et al., 2022). In this context, aquaculture could offer a sustainable alternative to the exploitation of the wild population, to meet current market demand and at the same time could promote waste bioremediation nearby productive areas. With regard to Mediterranean sea cucumber species aquaculture, a consistent body of research literature has been produced in the last few years, paving the way for the artificial reproduction of many European species by developing a spawning induction methodology and larval rearing protocol (Domínguez-Godino et al 2015; Domínguez-Godino et al 2018; Rakaj et al 2018; Rakaj et al., 2019; Laguerre et al., 2020; Magdy et al.,2021; Schagerström et al., 2022). Nevertheless, there are still some challenges facing sea cucumber aquaculture that need to be overcome for future aquaculture development. Here is presented the up-to-date research progress and problems and future opportunities for tow Mediterranean sea cucumber species H. tubulosa and H.polii.