Sea Cucumber Neuropeptides: Bridging Molecular Insights Towards Aquaculture Innovations

Abstract

The sea cucumber (class Holothuroidea) holds significant commercial value due to strong global demand, especially in East and Southeast Asian markets. Overexploitation of wild stocks has thus driven aquaculture expansion; however, current culture methods remain inadequate to meet projected demand or overcome traditional practice limitations. As evolutionarily ancient endogenous bioactive molecules, neuropeptides regulate diverse physiological processes and behaviors, demonstrating great potential as eco‐friendly tools for precision sea cucumber aquaculture. Identification and functional characterization of these neuropeptides improve our understanding of their evolutionary history and facilitate their application in aquaculture practice. In this review, we summarize the diversity of known sea cucumber neuropeptides and their receptors, their engagement with downstream cellular signaling pathways, and their roles in key biological processes, including feeding and growth, reproduction, regeneration, larvae settlement and metamorphosis, and locomotion. Future research should prioritize investigating neuropeptide regulatory networks, determining their functions across developmental stages, developing large‐scale peptide production methods, and improving delivery efficiency, all of which are critical for the application of neuropeptides to achieve sustainable, eco‐friendly sea cucumber aquaculture.