Sea cucumbers are farmed in significant quantities in East Asia, with welfare questions emerging around collection methods, stocking density, and the physiological responses of echinoderms to captivity.
Sea cucumber welfare assessment presents challenges because echinoderms are phylogenetically distant from vertebrates and have decentralised nervous systems. However, sea cucumbers show measurable physiological responses to aversive stimuli and environmental stressors including temperature and crowding. Autotomy under stress represents a dramatic welfare response. Thermal stress from warming ponds causes mass mortality events. Application of welfare assessment frameworks adapted for invertebrates is an emerging priority. The precautionary principle — given uncertainty about echinoderm sentience — supports optimising environmental conditions in sea cucumber aquaculture.