Addition of Dried Macroalgae Into Artificial Feed Increased Feed Consumption of Adult Sea Urchin (Tripneustes gratilla LINNAEUS 1758)

Palatability is an important factor in the development of artificial feed. This study compared the preferences of sea urchins on three dried macroalgae (Sargassum polycystum, Gracilaria lichenoides and Ulva reticulata) and aimed to determine the effect dried macroalgae addition on the feed consumption of adult collector sea urchins (Tripneustes gratilla). The research was done in two separate experiments. The first experiment assessed preference of sea urchins on three different dried macroalgae. Sea urchins showed significant preference to agar plates containing 20 persen of dried U. reticulata (AU-20) compared to other feed treatments when administered simultaneously. The second experiment assessed the sea urchins consumption on the basic feed (Control) and the three types of artificial feed containing 5 persen of dried macroalgae (DS-5, DG-5 or DU-5). The results showed the sea urchins consumed the artificial feed containing 5 persen of dried macroalgae more than Control when administered as a single feed. These results indicated that the addition of dried macroalgae into the artificial feed increased feed palatability. The study recommended dried U. reticulata as feeding stimulants candidate, since its proteins and lipids contents are higher than the other two macroalgae. Oseanologi dan Limnologi di Indonesia, Vol. 40, No. 1. Hal. 31-42 ISSN 0125-9830