Various research projects in Europe and North Africa have recently intended to breed temperate holothurians to alleviate fishing pressure on natural populations. However, to date little is known about the nutritional requirements of East Atlantic and Mediterranean species. In this study, we propose a “natural population”‐oriented approach to characterize food sources, digestive efficiency and resources allocation based on the composition of pigments and fatty acids (FA) in gut contents and tissues (muscles, gonads and digestive tract walls) of wild individuals of the species Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali (Delle Chiaje, 1823) sampled in Brittany (France). Our study reveals that neither green nor red algae enter the diet of H. forskali in spring and that the only fresh vegetal material found in gut contents is brown algae (very likely diatoms). The high nutritional quality of gut contents however contrasts with the detrital nature of the ingested food sources, suggesting that a trophic upgrading of organic matter occurs before digestion. In addition, unusual FA (i.e. only present in a few groups of living species) such as long‐chain monounsaturated FA (especially the FA 23:1ω9) were found in large proportions in muscles and gonad and their effect on sea cucumber fitness needs further investigation.

中文翻译：

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海参Holothuria forskali（Echinodermata：Holothuroidea）的食物来源，消化效率和资源分配：色素和脂肪酸的见解

欧洲和北非的各种研究项目最近打算培育温带的全人类，以减轻自然人口的捕捞压力。但是，迄今为止，人们对东大西洋和地中海物种的营养需求知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种“自然人群”导向的方法，根据肠道内容物和组织（肌肉，性腺和消化道壁）中色素和脂肪酸（FA）的组成来表征食物来源，消化效率和资源分配。在布列塔尼（法国）采样的霍斯霍里亚（Panningothuria）forskali（Delle Chiaje，1823）物种的野生个体。我们的研究表明，绿藻和红藻都不会进入福斯卡利氏菌的饮食在春季，肠道内容物中唯一的新鲜植物是棕色藻类（很可能是硅藻）。然而，肠内容物的高营养品质与摄入的食物来源的有害特性形成对比，这表明在消化之前发生了有机质的营养升级。另外，在肌肉和性腺中大量发现了不寻常的脂肪酸（即仅存在于少数几类生物中），例如长链单不饱和脂肪酸（尤其是脂肪酸23：1ω9），它们对海参适应性的影响还需要进一步研究。调查。