2004년 10월부터 2005년 9월까지 서해안 안면도 해역에서 채집한 해삼(Stichopus japonicus)의 생식소 발달과 생식주기에 관하여 조직학적 방법을 이용하여 조사하였다. 해삼은 자웅이체이며, 생식소는 암 수 모두 다수의 배우자형성소낭으로 이루어져 있었다. 생식소지수(GSI)는 암 수 모두 각각 6월(7.91, 7.21)에 가장 높았으며, 10월(0.42, 0.53)에 가장 낮았다. 서해안 해삼의주 산란기는 $6{sim}8$월이며, 생식주기는 분열증식기($1{sim}3$월), 성장기($3{sim}4$월), 성숙기($4{sim}7$월), 산란기($6{sim}8$월) 및 퇴화 및 휴지기($8{sim}1$월)로 구분할 수 있었다.
Resources of the sea cucumber, Stichopus japonicus in the west coast of Korea are decreasing sharply due to overfishing and severe marine pollutions. Artificial seed production and release of this species need to be conducted to maintain sea cucumber stock in the region. In this study, to provide basic information for such works, reproductive cycle of sea cucumber collected from Anmyondo in the region was histologically studied for a year from October 2004 to September 2005. This species was dioecious, and its gonads was composed of a number of gametogenic follicles. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) was reached the maximum in June (7.91), and the minimum in October (0.42). The main spawning occurs between June and August. The reproductive cycle of the sea cucumber could be divided into five stages: multiplicative stage (January to March), growing stage (March to April), mature stage (April to July), spawning.
