Sea cucumbers are in high demand in the world market due to their nutritional and medicinal values. In this study, the growth performance of juvenile sea cucumbers Holothuria scabra fed with different proportions of two feeds was analyzed. Commercially available sea cucumber feed (feed-A) and formulated feed (feed-B) were used for the experiments. Animals fed with 2% feed-A showed a negative growth rate. Maximum growth was observed in animals fed with 8% feed-A and feed-B. While feed-A treated groups showed significant variation (P < 0.05) in growth performance between different percentages of diets, feed-B treated animals showed no such variation. Feed-B treated animals showed higher growth rates compared to feed-A treated sea cucumbers. Water quality parameters and anoxic conditions of the soil in culture tanks did not change due to the higher percentage of feeds. In conclusion, this study showed that diet percentage is an important factor for the optimum growth of sea cucumbers.
The Nature Education Centre of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow has in its collection a spectacular fossil of a Jurassic crinoid, in literature known as Seirocrinus subangularis (Miller). Only several museums in Central Europe can boast such a perfectly preserved and complete specimen of Seirocrinus. As seen against Polish museum collections the slab in question is an outstanding object. That very form was a cosmopolitan and pseudoplanktonic crinoid species spread throughout Asia, Europe, and Northern America, yet it has never been documented in Poland. The particular specimen reached Poland in the mid-19th century from Germany to enrich the collection of the Mineralogical Cabinet. The paper presents the turbulent history of the slab with some dozen specimens of echinoderms on it, the story which will shortly have a happy end, since it will be permanently placed as a geological exhibit at the Nature Education Centre of the Jagiellonian University.