DISTRIBUTION, DENSITY AND UTILIZATION OF SEA-URCHIN, Tripneustes

gratilla, IN THE SEAGRASS BED OF SANUR BEACH, BALI, INDONESIA

ABSTRACT
Tripneustes gratilla is one of the sea urchin species that lives in association with seagrass
beds. The study aims to assess the distribution and abundance of this species in the
seagrass bed at Sanur, Bali as well as its utilization by local people for their subsistence
income and food. Line transects perpendicular to the coastline with five 250 x 1000 cm
squares were used to assess the sea-urchin population. In each 250 x 1000 cm square,
four square quadrats of 50 x 50 cm were used for assessing the diversity, distribution and
abundance of seagrass. The spatial distribution of sea urchins and seagrass was analyzed
using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The average sea urchin density is 0.19
individual/m with an average diameter of 5 cm. Statistically the distribution of sea
urchins correlates with percent of coverage of seagrass (R2 = 0.296). Interviews with
local fishermen and the community leader were conducted to determine the way they
utilize this animal. The results of the interviews show that their daily collection is less
than in previous years. This suggests that the sea urchin population may be decreasing
due to exploitation.

Keywords:

Tripneustes gratilla, seagrass, distribution, utilization

INTRODUCTION
Tripneustes gratilla (Linnaeus, 1758) is known to occur in tropical and sub-tropical seas,
from Africa to the Indo-Pacific waters and from Australia to Japan (Lawrence and
Agatsuma, 2007). It lives in shallow water and is usually found in seagrass beds and
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coral reefs (Suharsono, 1999). The presence of this species in seagrass areas is closely
related to its feeding activity (Dy, et.al., 2002).

Tripneustes gratilla is one of the main grazers in seagrass areas and consumes a variety
of seagrass species such as Thalassia hemprichii (Vaitilingon et al., 2003), Cymodoceae
rotundata, Halodule uninervis, (Vonk, 2008), and Syringodium isoetifolium (Aziz, 1994).
Its grazing activities enable a supply of energy to move to another trophic level through
the food chain (Unsworth et al., 2007) and speed up the nitrogen cycle within seagrass
meadows. It also acts as supplier of ammonium via its fecal material (Vonk, 2008).

Humans have consumed sea urchin gonads since prehistoric times with varying methods
of consumption, both raw andr cooked (Lawrence, 2007a). The absence of any
management system in the exploitation of this species has been resulted in a decrease of
its stock, as has already happened in the Philippines (Juinio-Menez, et.al., 2008; Pena, et
al, 2010). In Bali, Indonesia, the gonads of T. gratilla have also been consumed by local
people for a long time. This is the first study that has assessed the T. gratilla density and
distribution in the seagrass bed at Sanur Beach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study Site
This study was carried out from 18 July to 20 August 2011. The study site was located at
seagrass area in Sanur Beach in front of Banjar Batu Jimbar and Banjar Semawang
villages, Sanur District, Bali (Figure 1). At this site, T. gratilla is collected and traded by
local communities.

Distribution and density of T. gratilla and seagrass abundance.

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The transect method was used to measure the density and distribution of sea urchins
following Dobo (2009) in Banda Island, Indonesia. Five transects were laid (as far as 300
m) perpendicular to the shoreline, with a distance of 162.5 m between the transects. Five
squares of 10 x 2.5 m were along each transect to measure the density and distribution
of sea urchins (Figure 2). All sea urchins found in the squares were counted, measured
the diameter and recorded. In each 10 x 2.5 m square, four quadrats of 50 x 50 cm were
set to measure the percent cover, distribution, and diversity of seagrasses. Seagrass
species and percent cover were identified using Seagrass-Watch (Mckenzie et. al, 2003).
A scheme of the transect method, square and quadrats is shown in Figure 2.

Data Analysis
The spatial distribution of seagrasses was analyzed using ASTER satellite imagery from
2006. The Geographical Information System was used to analyze the distribution of
seagrass. The satelliteimage wasclassifiedusingunsupervisedclassificationandthis
map of seagrass distribution was corrected based on the seagrass distribution data
obtainedinthefield.

The distribution of seagrasses was determined by interpolation using the Kriging method
based on the seagrass percent cover data. Through Kriging interpolation, seagrass levels
were divided into four abundance categories, i.e. rare, less abundant, medium abundant
and abundant.

The numbers of sea urchins found from each transect were then superimposed over the
seagrass abundance maps to determine the distribution of sea urchins in the seagrass
(Figure 3).

Non-linear logarithmic regression was used to analyze the correlation between sea urchin
density and total seagrass cover (Figure 4, 5).

RESULTS
Seagrass Distribution and Abundance
Ten species of seagrass were found in the Sanur seagrass bed, consisting of Enhalus
acoroides, Thalassia hemprichii, Cymodocea serrulata, Cymodocea rotundata,
Halophila ovalis, Halophila minor, Syringodium isoetifolium, Halodule uninervis,
Halodule pinifolia and Thalassodendron ciliatum. Among them, T. hemprichii was the
most common species at the study site (Figure 3). Seagrass percent cover ranged between
0 and 90%, with an average of 32%. Seagrass percent cover was then analyzed with GIS
to determine the spatial distribution of seagrass abundance (Figure 4).

Size, Density and Distribution of T. gratilla

Sea urchins were found with a diameter range from 27 cm (N=122) with a median
diameter of 5 cm. The highest density of sea urchins found was 19 individuals per 25 m2,
although in fivesix quadrats no sea urchins were observed. The average density of sea
urchins in Sanur was 0.19 individual/m2. Sea urchins were found in 19 squares out of 25
(76%), and they were all found in areas that were covered by seagrass, as seen in figure
4.

Relationship between Sea Urchins and Seagrass

The correlations between T. gratilla density and seagrass were analyzed using non-linear
regression as shown in Figure 45. The figure shows that there is a correlation between
sea urchin density per transect and the percentage of seagrass cover. However the
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analysis resulted in a coefficient of determination value (R2) is 0.30, that means seagrass
cover only contributes 30% toofhe to the sea urchin density and that different factors
contributed to the other 70% w

Thalassia hemprichii is the most common species in the study area (Figure 3), and nonlinear regression was conducted to determine the relationship between T.hemprichii and
T. gratilla (Figure 56). The result show the coefficient determination value (R2) is 0.29,
that means the present of T. hemprichii contributed 29% to thn the abundance of T.
gratilla.

Sea Urchin Collection by the Local Community

The collection of sea urchins is usually performed both in the morning and late
afternoon during low tides three days before or after a full or new moon. An average of
five people collect the urchins in each day, and they finshing gween between 8 and-10
days in a month. The equipments used isare very simple, a knife to break the shells of the
sea urchins, bottles to contain sea urchin gonads and several pieces of cloth to protect the
workers hands from sea the urchins pines. The method used is to by walking along the
coast forut about 400 m from the shoreline, and searching sea urchins under corals and
seagrass.

The sea urchins collected were approximately 47 cm in diameter with an average

diameter of 5.5 cm. On average, a fisherman can collect between 23 bottles, or 1200
1800 ml, of sea urchin gonads per day. In average, to fill one bottle (600ml) with gonads,
needs between 50 and 70 individual sea urchins. Thats mean to fill 2 bottles, each
fisherman needs to collect around 120 sea urchins per day or 1100 per month. This
amounts to

5500 individual sea urchins per month for five fisherman, who have
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beenscollecting

been collecting

sea urchins like this for more than 10 yearswere

alreadyn 10 years.

According to the sea urchin fishermen, it has been getting more difficult to find sea
urchins recently, the catch number is not as much as severare te ygothree yeaars ago. In
previous times, they could collect more than five bottles of sea urchin gonads per day or
more. The number of fisherman has also decreased greatly compared to several years
agothey couldan collected s urchin e bottles of sea urchin gonads per day or more. The
number of fisherman has also much decreasedtly compared to several years ago.

DISCUSSION
Figure 4 showed that most of the sea urchin population was found in the seagrass bed, so
seagrass is probably important for sea urchins. Some sea urchins, including T. gratilla,
have an unique behavior such as covering their body with seagrass leaves to protect
themselves from predators (Aziz, 1999; Pena et al., 2010). Lawrence and Agatsuma
(2007) reported that self-wrapping or self-covering behavior was useful to reduce
radiation on the body.

Several previous studies mentioned that T. hemprichii was a main part of the diet of T.
gratilla (Mukai and Nojima, 1985; Vonk, 2008; Kasim, 2009). As stated before, T.
hemprichii is the dominant species of seagrass in Sanur. This suggests that T. hemprichii
may be important for T. gratilla in the study area. From other studies, it is known that sea
urchins also consume Cymodocea rotundata and Syringodium isotifolium (Aziz, 1999;
Vaitilingon, et al., 2003).

The sea urchin density of 0.19 individual/m2 is very low compared to those reported from
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others areas such as at Africa which reaches up to 415 individu/m2 where exploitation
by the local community is not common (Lawrence, 2007b). The low sea urchin density
could be affected by over-exploitation.

The difficulties fishermen have to collecting sea urchins compared to previous years is
another indication of the declining population of sea urchin in the study site. The
declining population of sea urchins has also been found in several other countries, such
as the Philippines (Juinio-Menez , et al., 2008), due to over exploitation.
CONCLUSION
The average of seagrass coverage in study area are 32% with T. hemprichii as the
common seagrass species found. Sea urchin density is 0.19 individual/m2 with median
diameter of 5 cm and mostly found in area with seagrass coverage. Local people at Sanur
are collecting sea urchin around full moon and new moon. They already collecting the
sea urchin more than 10 years ago with traditional ways. Sea urchin density of 0.19
individual/m2 is lower than in other area where sea urchin collecting was not common, it
could be affected by over-exploitation. There is also indicated from the difficulties to
collect sea urchin compared to previous years.

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Aziz, A. 1999. Tingkah laku bulu babi di padang lamun. Jurnal Oseana, XIX (4), p. 3543.

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Lawrence, J. M. 2007a. Sea urchin roe cuisine. J. M. Lawrence (ed.).Edible Sea Urchin:
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FIGURE

Figure 1. Study Area, Sanur, Bali

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Shore line

Figure 2 . Transect and square sampling method.

Sea urchins are sampled in larger squares and sea grasses are sampled in smaller squares
in each transect. The transect distance from the shoreline is 300m with 162.5m between
each transect.

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Figure 3. Seagrass species coverage in study area

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Figure 4. Density and Distribution of T. Gratilla in the Seagrass Bed of Sanur

The red dots indicate sea urchin abundance in each quadrat, and the green dots mean
there are no sea urchins found in the quadrat.
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Figure 5

Relationship between Sea Urchin Density and Seagrass Cover

Figure 6.

Relationship between Sea Urchin Density and T. hemprichii Cover

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