The growth, metabolism and physiological response of the sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus, were investigated during periods of inactivity. The body weight, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), activities of acidic phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and content of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in the body wall and coelomic fluid of A. japonicus were measured during starvation, experimental aestivation and aestivation. The results showed that the body weight of sea cucumber in the three treatments decreased significantly during the experimental period (P < 0.05). The OCR of sea cucumber reduced in starvation and experimental aestivation treatments, but increased gradually in natural aestivation treatment. The activities of ACP and AKP of sea cucumber decreased gradually in all treatments, whereas those of SOD and CAT as well as Hsp70 content decreased in the starvation and experimental aestivation treatments and increased in natural aestivation treatment. The sea cucumber entered a state of aestivation at 24℃. To some extent, the animals in experimental aestivation were different from those in natural aestivation in metabolism and physiological response. These findings suggested that the aestivation mechanism of A. japonicus is complex and may not be attributed to the elevated temperature only.
In nature, Apostichopus japonicus exhibits a behavioral characteristic of emerging at night and sheltering during the day. Hence, it was commonly believed that longer and darker light conditions are better for a population of A. japonicus. In aquaculture situations therefore, animals have commonly been cultured without lighting, especially during juvenile-hatching culture. However, how the length of darkness each day affects .4.japonicus and what the mechanism is of behavioral response of A. japonicus to different photoperiods remain unclear, and are specifically addressed in this study. We applied nine photoperiod treatments （light：dark （LD） cycles at 0：24, 3：21, 6：18, 9：15, 12：12, 15：9, 18：6, 21：3, and 24：0 under 500Ix） to 60 individuals （29.73±0.23 g） per treatment （with 3 replicates）. The enviroramental conditions were set as： water temperature = 16.9±0.3℃, dissolved oxygen〉6.0 rag/L, ammonia〈0.3 mg/L, pH=7.8-8.2, and salinity=30-32. Under experimental conditions of continuous darkness as well as continuous light, cyclic nocturnal activity patterns of A. japonicus （viz. the animals emerged and fed at night and sheltered during the day） were observed. However, they spent more and less time, respectively, moving and feeding under continuous darkness and continuous light, than those under a natural light cycle. Under photoperiods with 6-12 h of light, the animals showed one sheltering behavior transition and two emerging behavior transitions. These behavior transitions appeared to be governed by some internal physiological factors and induced by daily light variation. The behavior of the animals was significantly affected by different photoperiods, and the distribution rate （DR） of the animals emerging at ＂daytime＂ increased with lengthening ＂light time＂ （except for the LD 3：21 cycle）. We also found that there was no significant difference in mean DR per day under LD cycles of 6：18, 9：15, 15：9, and 12：12. Mean DRs per day were significan
