Abstract

There are three sea cucumber species potentially marketed from the Yucatan Coast: Astichopus multifidus, Isostichopus badionotus and Holothuria floridana. The objective of this work was to get a biomass evaluation of these three species from two areas to Yucatan Coast during October (2000) to March (2001). The areas are located in the eastern and central coast of the Yucatan State, Mexico. The eastern coast area has an surface approximate of 596,803 ha, and the central coast area has an approximate surface of 581,197 ha. The biomass evaluation was made using counts of sea cucumbers of each specie in transects. The counts were made during October to March. Density were estimated in organism for square meters and organism for hectares. The density estimates in number of organism by hectare for the area of the eastem coast is: Astichopus multifidus: 5.92, Isostichopus badionotus: 5.08, Holothuriajloridana: 120; for central coast are: A. multifidus: 32.18, L badionotus: 25.29, H jloridana: 142.53. The average weight in kg. of the collected individual s of each specie is: A. multifidus: 1.454, L badionotus: 0.790 , H jloridana: 0.118; Biomass estimations for the area of the eastern coast in tons is: A. multifidus: 2,570, L badionotus: 1,196 and H jloridana: 1,016. Biomass estimation for the area of the central coast in tons is: A. multifidus: 13,600, L badionotus: 5,806 and H. floridana: 1,968. This biomass estimation was does considering that A. multifidus occupies only a 50% of each interest area, L badionotus also a 50% and H jloridana occupies only a 20 % of each area.

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