A Revisit in the Status

of Echiniculture in the
Philippines
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for
ZOO 185 Introduction to Aquaculture

Ralen Faye P. Villaseñor

BS Biology Major in Zoology
Sea
Urchin
● Distinctive spines that extend from its globular
body which may possess toxins

● Invertebrates classified under the Class

Echinoidea and Phylum Echinodermata

● ~950 living species in marine habitats

● Philippines homes 210 sea urchin species

Maritangtang
(Tripneustes gratilla)
Maritangtang
● most commercialized species in the Philippines,
specifically on the northwestern coast of the Luzon
Island and Bicol region
 also consumed in some parts of Visayas and
Mindanao
 main source of revenue
● inhabits the shallow area of the ocean’s seagrass
beds and coral reefs
● tolerate water with a salinity greater than 45 ppm at
15 °C
Maritangtang
(Tripneustes gratilla)
Maritangtang
● This feeds on macroalgae, seagrass, diatoms, and
coral tissue

● do not exhibit external features that distinguish males

from females
● males are observed to possess a higher gonad index
than females Maritangtang
(Tripneustes gratilla)
Gonads or
Roe
● a high-demand delicacy due to their high nutritional
value
● high demand in Asian and Mediterranean countries
● expensive
 Fresh: ~60-70 PHP per kilogram
 Frozen roe: ~1000-1200 PHP per kilogram
● market value is sensitive to the quality of the
gonads
● overfishing or overexploitation
ECONOMIC VALUE OF SEA
URCHINS

Figure 1. Trend in the Export (Upper) and Import (Lower) Value of Sea Urchins from the
Philippines (Source: https://www.tridge.com/intelligences/sea-urchin/PH)
ECONOMIC VALUE OF SEA
URCHINS

Figure 2. Top Export Destinations of Fresh Sea Urchin from the Philippines in 2020 (Source:
https://www.tridge.com/intelligences/sea-urchin/PH)
ECONOMIC VALUE OF SEA
URCHINS

Figure 3. Global Top Exporters of Fresh Sea Urchin

(Source: https://www.tridge.com/intelligences/sea-urchin/export)
 Echiniculture
• echinoderm fishery in the Philippines is still
highly dependent on wild stock
“Stock enhancement is
 overexploitation different from
• echiniculture is currently not well-practiced in aquaculture. Stock
the Philippines enhancement grows
• stock enhancement
fingerlings and juveniles
in a hatchery until capable
• stock enhancement would not provide a long- enough to be released
term solution for overexploitation of sea urchins into the wild. Aquaculture
because of the limited carrying capacity of the grows an organism from
natural sites an egg stage into an adult
• to effectively sustain the high demand for sea in a controlled
urchins globally, land-based or cage techniques environment.
must be applied
Land-based closed-cycle
echiniculture (Grosjean et al., 1998)

• to provide maximum control on the sea urchin by

applying the most appropriate temperature,
photoperiod, water quality, and quality and
amount of food depending on the life cycle stage
• greater assurance of the survival rate and yield

Figure 4. Overview of the closed-cycle process

Steps of the Rearing Method

01. Fertilization 02. Larval Culture

03. Metamorphosis 04. Growth of Juveniles

Conditioning for
05. Growth of Subadults 06a. market of roe

06b. Broodstock
 With sufficient research and education for the fishermen,
echiniculture can provide a large supply of sea urchin for
exportation and consumption of local residents. Therefore,
it is suggested that echiniculture must be studied and
budgeted further by the government and private sectors to
effectively disseminate the opportunities to ordinary
Filipinos.
References
Andas-libron, G. D. (2009). Abundance and distribution of echinoids in the Island Garden City of Samal . ADDU-SAS Graduate School Research Journal, 5(1).
Retrieved from http://ejournals.ph/form/cite.php?id=246

Elizabeth, K. (2020, November 19). How to know if a sea urchin is male or female? Pets on Mom.com. Retrieved May 18, 2022, from
https://animals.mom.com/sea-urchin-male-female-6526.html

Ettensohn, C. A. (2017). Sea urchins as a model system for studying embryonic development. Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences.
https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-801238-3.99509-6

Garcia, G., Palmes, N., & Canencia, O. (2019). Bioactive compounds proximate composition and cytotoxicity of Echinoidea (Sea Urchin): Basis for future policy
preservation and conservation. International Journal of Biosciences, 14(4), 350–359. https://doi.org/10.12692/ijb/14.4.350-359

Grosjean, P., Spirlet, C., Gosselin, P., & Vaitilingon, D. (1998). Land-based, closed-cycle echiniculture of Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck) (Echinoidea:
Echinodermata): A long-term experiment at a pilot scale. Journal of Shellfish Research, 17(5), 1523–1531.

Haddad, V., & Sardenberg, T. (2017). Management of Venomous Injuries. In Green's Operative Hand Surgery (7th ed., Ser. 52, pp. 1788–1796). Elsevier.

Harvey, E. (1954). Electrical method of determining the sex of sea urchins. Nature, 173(4393), 86–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/173086a0

Hilborn, R., & Hilborn, U. (2019). Enhancement and Aquaculture. Ocean Recovery, 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198839767.003.0015

Mooi, R., & Munguia, A. (2017). Sea Urchins of the Philippines. The Coral Triangle: The 2011 Hearst Philippine Biodiversity Expedition.

Nievales, M., Juinio-Meñez, M., & Bangi, H. (2006). Proceedings of the Regional Technical Consultation on stock enhancement for threatened species of
international concern: Iloilo City, Philippines, 13-15 July 2005. Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Dept.

Schoppe, S. (2000). Echinoderms of the Philippines: A guide to common shallow water sea stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and feather stars.
VISCA-GTZ Program on Applied Tropical Ecology, Visayas State College of Agriculture.

Ungson, J. (2004). Stock Enhancement of Sea Urchin (Tripneustes gratilla) In Northwestern Luzon, Philippines: A Management Strategy. IIFET 2004 Japan
Proceedings.