Effects of dietary Bacillus on foraging behavior, food consumption, digestive enzyme activity, and defecation outputs of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus at low temperature: New insights into overwintering management

Low efficiency is one of the most serious problems of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) seed production in winter. Probiotics as dietary supplements have the potential to address this problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the application of dietary Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and B. methylotrophicus on foraging behaviors, food consumption, digestive enzyme activity, and defecation outputs of small A. japonicus that were cultured in sea water at 5 °C for 12 days. We found that sea cucumbers supplemented with Bacillus showed significantly longer foraging distance (N = 6, P