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UTUSAN MALAYSIA, Wednesday, 12 January 2022, written by Nur Nabilah Rahmat - Spesies timun laut bronok ditemukan di Sungai Muar 

HARIAN METRO, Wednesday, 12 January 2022, written by Essa Abu Yamin - Kerabu bronok Sungai Muar  

MALAY NEWS, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 - UTHM kaji bronok, perkenal menu baharu tarik pelancong ke Muar 

MALAYSIA GAZETTE, Wednesday, 12 January 2022 - UTHM kaji bronok, perkenal menu baharu tarik pelancong ke Muar  

THE STAR, Wednesday, 19 January 2022 - White oyster conservation vital (and bronok Acaudina molpadioides in Muar)

 "Malaysian Marine Heritage"

"And We have made for you therein means of living and [for] those for whom you are not providers." 

Malay

"Dan Kami telah menjadikan padanya (bumi) sumber-sumber kehidupan untuk keperluanmu, dan (Kami ciptakan pula) makhluk-makhluk yang bukan kamu pemberi rezekinya."

(Surah Al-Ĥijr 15: 20)

At the moment, Malaysian Sea Cucumber Database has 10 sections: HOME page, Researcher & Collaborator, Research & Consultancy, Research Student, Research Supervision, Publication & Research History, Award & Recognition, Copyright & Reference, Contact Us, and Useful Links. This easy-to-access on-line reference has enabled a lot of people around the world including business owners, academics, and researchers to refer to and be up-to-date with available research and information on Malaysian sea cucumbers. The database has been recently recognised at the national level as well as at the international level. It is linked to the Malaysia Maritime Database (http://marin-dbase.com/) - a national maritime database in Malaysia which contains various information on the expertise, experts, institutions, and companies pertaining to maritime education and industries.  At the international level, the database can be accessed worldwide from the US National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored project i.e. the Systema Aspidochirotidae database (http://www.guammarinelab.com/peetcukes/index.html).

SEA CUCUMBERS IN MALAYSIA - GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Sea cucumber (aka sea cuke), holothurian or holothuroid belongs to phylum Echinodermata. This soft-bodied marine-dwelling echinoderm from class Holothuroidea is unique due to the existence of evolved skeleton (i.e. ossicles or spicules) and ancient-looked respiratory system called respiratory tree possessed by a few species.  

In Malaysia, sea cucumbers from other than family Stichopodidae e.g. genera of Holothuria, Actinopyga, Pearsonothuria, and Bohadschia are commonly known as bat, balat, and timun laut. They are also sometimes known as brunok, and hoi sum or hai shen by the Chinese community, which means "sea ginseng" - a reference to its healing properties. Stichopus species e.g. Stichopus horrens and Stichopus herrmanni, frequently used as the main raw material in the traditional medicine (i.e. gamat oil and gamat water/fluid) especially in Peninsular Malaysia, West Malaysia are locally known as gamat. Thelenota species e.g. Thelenota ananas and Thelenota anax, and other species of family Stichopodidae are also called gamat. The same commercial name is used by the Sabah and Sarawak residents in East Malaysia. In fact, there are different definitions of gamat from previous studies in Malaysia (i.e. from 1985 until June 2011), and the most appropriate definition is that gamat is exclusively referred to the sea cucumbers of family Stichopodidae, as mentioned above. 

In Sabah, East Malaysia the sea cucumbers inclusive of gamat are commercially marketed as food, and there are minor uses as fishing poison (e.g. holothurins from Holothuria atra) and in the traditional medication. Approximately 155 tonnes of sea cucumbers were landed in 1995 as estimated by the Sabah Fisheries Department. According to Choo (2008), there were 19 commercial Malaysian sea cucumber species from the gamat and timun laut species. However, the use of sea cucumbers in Sarawak, East Malaysia is not well documented and the information on the species presence and distribution is sparse. It was reported by Hashim (1993) that the Sarawak fishermen used brunok (Acaudina molpadioides (Semper, 1867)) as fishing bait.

Beche-de-mer in Sabah, Malaysia

Basically, there are 2 main economic practices of sea cucumbers in Malaysia: an important source of traditional medicine (i.e. gamat lipid extracts and gamat water extracts) as well as modern medicine in Peninsular Malaysia, West Malaysia and an important source in the food industry in Sabah, East Malaysia. 

Several studies related to sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) in Malaysia have been published since 1985. The earliest study documented in Malaysia on the distribution of sea cucumbers using morphological characteristics was conducted by Ridzwan Hashim (Professor of International Islamic University Malaysia) and Che Bashah Che Chat in 1985. In fact, molecular approaches are capable of providing insights into the phylogeny of sea cucumbers and can support the outcomes of traditional morphological approaches, and a number of molecular ecological studies have also been recorded in Malaysia since 1999.

References: 

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Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin, Maryam Mohamed Rehan, Hanina Mohd Noor, Nur Zazarina Ramly and ‘Aisyah Mohamed Rehan (2016). 16S rRNA Barcoding Technique for Species Identification of Processed Sea Cucumbers from selected Malaysian Markets. Journal of Science and Mathematics Letters 4(2016): 10-23. ISSN 2462-2052. December 2016 (Malaysia). Corresponding author: Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin. Indexation status: MyJurnal, Malaysian Citation Index (MYCITE).

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Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin, Gires Usup, Ridzwan Hashim and Maryam Mohamed Rehan (2015). Sea Cucumber (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) Species Richness at Selected Localities in Malaysia. Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science 38(1): 7–32. ISSN 1511-3701. February 2015 (Malaysia). Corresponding author: Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin. Indexation status: SCOPUS (Elsevier), Thomson (ISI) Web of Knowledge [BIOSIS & CAB Abstracts], EBSCO, DOAJ, Google Scholar, AGRICOLA, ISC, Citefactor, Rubriq and MyAIS. 

(3) 

Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin (2006). Phylogeny of Sea Cucumber (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) in Malaysia as Inferred from 16S Mitochondrial rRNA Gene Sequences. Masters Dissertation, University Kebangsaan Malaysia. Corresponding author: Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin. (Technical paper). 

(4) 

Choo, P.S. (2008). Population status, fisheries and trade of sea cucumbers in Asia. In: Sea cucumbers. A global review of fisheries and trade. Toral-Granda V, Lovatelli A and Vasconcellos M (eds). FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 516. P. 81-118.

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Ridzwan Hashim and Che Bashah Che Chat (1985). Tinjauan awal taburan dan penilaian holothurian di beberapa kawasan perairan Sabah sebagai sumber pemakanan. SUMBER I: 143-155.

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Nur Sabrina Badrulhisham, Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin, Siti Najihah Solehin, ‘Aisyah Mohamed Rehan, Gan Han Ming and Puteri Nur Syahzanani Jahari (2022). Mitochondrial Genome of Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt, 1835) from Sedili Kechil, Johor. Accession No.: ON584426. Accepted on 24th May 2022, Released on 6th November 2022  by the GenBank, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine. This research was funded by Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) cycle 01/2019 with Code No. K176 (KPT.P.(S) 400-7/2/29 Jld. 24 (34) / FRGS/1/2019/WAB09/UTHM/03/2) (Principal investigator: Ts. Gs. Dr. Kamarul Rahim Bin Kamarudin). Corresponding depositor: Nur Sabrina Badrulhisham.   

(2)

Nor Shahida Ab Rahman, Muhammad Asyraf Azahar, Nur Amira Shafiqa Rosli, Nur Sabrina Badrul Hisham, Siti Najihah Solehin, `Aisyah Mohamed Rehan, Md-Zairi Zainal, Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff and Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin. (2022). Sea Cucumber (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) Species Checklist In Pulau Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia, JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA TERENGGANU, 11, 81-90, ISSN:26727226. Indexation status: Web of Science (Zoological Record), Scopus, Scimago, MyCite (MyJurnal), ASEAN Citation Index, Chemical Abstract, Google Scholar.  

(3)

Siti Najihah Solehin, Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin, Nur Sabrina Badrulhisham, and ‘Aisyah Mohamed Rehan (2022). The potential use of papaya and banana peels as substrate to enhance the pigment production of Gram-positive bacterial strain isolated from Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis. Malaysian Journal of Microbiology. 18 (2): 136-145. ISSN (print): 1823-8262, ISSN (online): 2231-7538. April 2022 (Malaysia). Publisher: Malaysian Society for Microbiology. Corresponding author: Kamarul Rahim Kamarudin. Indexation status: SCOPUS, CAS, CABI, WPRIM, DOAJ, MyCite, MyAIS, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) by Clarivate Analytics (Formerly known as Thomson Reuters), Google Scholar and EBSCO. 

More details of research documents on Malaysia's sea cucumbers are available on the following page:

- (F) Publications & Research History -

BIODATA OF AUTHOR

Ts. Gs. Dr. Kamarul Rahim Bin Kamarudin was born on the 15th April 1981 in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is currently residing in Muar, Johor Darul Ta'zim, Malaysia. He previously was a student of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia obtained Master of Science in Marine Science from the Faculty of Science and Technology in 2006. Before that, he obtained Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Resource Biotechnology from Faculty of Resource Science and Technology (FRST), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia in 2003. From September 2014 until September 2017, he was a Ph.D. student of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Nilai, Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus, Malaysia majoring in Food Biotechnology. His main research focus is on the genetics and food industry of marine-dwelling sea cucumber (Phylum Echinodermata: Class Holothuroidea), or commonly known as gamat and timun laut in Malaysia, and its associated microorganisms including food-grade pigment-producing bacteria. He has presented, published, and registered more than 200 research documents on species richness and genetics of Malaysian sea cucumber species; gut microbiota/microbiome in Malaysian sea cucumber species; microbial pigments produced by bacteria associated with Malaysian sea cucumber species (in search of natural food-grade microbial pigments to be exploited as natural food colourant); species identification and phylogenetic analyses of commercial sea cucumbers in Malaysian markets (involving processed sea cucumber) using mitochondrial DNA genes; and antioxidants, to mention a few.

Corresponding Author & Email Address:

Ts. Gs. Dr. KAMARUL RAHIM BIN KAMARUDIN

- Physique481@gmail.com -

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