THE BENEFITS OF A SMALL THING HIGH PROTEIN IN THE NARROW NICHE IS HUNTED ON THE PENDAWA BEACH

THE BENEFITS OF A SMAAL THING HIGH PROTEIN IN THE NARROW NICHE IS HUNTED ON THE PENDAWA BEACH.

By: Drs. Joko Wiryatno, M.Sc

Sea-shelled animals composed of eight tiles are tiled, living in a coral reef environment in the tidal area, measuring body length between 3mm-300mm, but the protein content is very high at 18.6% wet weight, resulting in hunting by the community. This marine animal is known by the name Chiton, a group of marine mollusks that are not yet widely known in Indonesia, but its existence has been found by the community and some researchers, namely on the Krakal beach in Gunung Kidul, Pendawa beach, Mangrove Ecosystem, Pejarakan Village, Buleleng. Chiton hunting by people on the south coast of Java is used as food ingredients with rice in the form of satay and other dishes, in Mexico, "chiton" has become a meal for the 'elite' community, cooked as a soup mixture, and marketed in canned form. White sand beach Pendawa along approximately 1 km with a tidal area of ​​about 500,000 m2, in which save Chiton periodically taken by the surrounding population at the lowest ebb. The acquisition of chiton animals is sold to collectors for 250 thousand / kg, the location is taken in a very narrow niche in the eastern part of approximately 350 m2 bordering the coast of Mount Payung with the basic conditions of rocky waters

Chiton uptake routines without regulation, in the long term can cause population decline that leads to extinction, so that the Pendawa beach will lose one of the marine animal resources that have the potential as a source of protein, ecosystem balancing and biological learning materials and even ecotourism. As a counterweight to the ecosystem, chitons are at the second level of the food pyramid system that is almost all eating algae (algae) and detritus, so that it is controlling the algae community in the surrounding environment. However, there are also carnivores which are of the type Mopalia hindsii, but not so much. The existence of these two resources in a balanced and sustainable population, when the carrying capacity of the algae community and the capacity of the chiton in the niche does not exceed the limit, and in optimum population conditions in utilizing algae as feed ingredients. As a biological learning material, Chiton is a primitive sea snail, included in the group Polyplacophora, which means a mollusk that has eight cankang plates arranged like a sea turtle shell.

The diversity of chitons in the world reaches 920 species, whereas in Indonesia animal studies are still lacking in terms of taxonomy, diversity and ecology, distribution and mapping as well as other comprehensive studies. A study by the Biology Study Group of the Faculty of Engineering of the Atmajaya University in Yogyakarta has found two types of Chiton on the Krakal coast of Gunung Kidul namely Chiton virgularus and Nuttallina fluxa. As for what was found in Pendawa Beach and Pejarakan Village in Bali as well as in LHOK MEE Aceh Besar has not been identified to the level of species or species. As a tourist destination, Pendawa Beach needs to be preserved sustainably, including its rich marine biological resources, one of which is Chiton. The visual, direct and comprehensive packaging of Chiton's whereabouts on the beach will add tourist attractions as well as ecotourism learning.

The search, improvement and preservation of marine biodiversity diversity, one of which is Chiton, must be carried out comprehensively by involving various stakeholders, namely academics, policy makers, communities and NGOs. Thus, the utilization of natural resources can be utilized optimally without causing environmental imbalance.