Experimental ecological method was used to compare the oxygen consumption rate and ammonia-N excretion rate between red type and green type Apostichopus japonicus,aiming at the investigation on the optimum environmental range for reproduction and culture conditioning of this species.Sea cucumbers were taken to the laboratory,acclimated for 10 d at five temperatures(7,12,17,22 and 27 ℃),six salinities(23,26,29,32,35 and 38)and five light colors(white,red,yellow,green and blue).The uniform size individuals were separately sampled from the red and green A.Japonicus.The results showed that:1)Oxygen consumption rate(OCR)and ammonia-N excretion rate(AER)were positively correlative to the temperature for both types A.japonicus.Under the test temperatures(7-27 ℃),the increasing OCR values of the red and green types sea cucumbers covered the range of 7.58-25.94 and 13.12-25.61 μg/(g·h)respectively.OCR for the red type was significantly higher than the green one at 7 ℃ and 27 ℃,however,it significantly lower than the green one at 22 ℃(P<0.05).2)The AER for red type was positively correlative to the temperature,while for the green one AER reached the maximum at 17 ℃ and then it declined with the increasing of temperature.The AER for the red and green types were 0.62-2.57 and 0.90-2.22 μg/(g·h),respectively.AER for the red type was significantly higher than that of the green one at 7 ℃,and it significantly lower than the green one at 27 ℃.3)At test salinities of 26 to 38,both of the OCR and AER showed a shape of ‘M’ with the increasing of salinity.OCR for the red and green ones were in range of 15.72 to 21.32 μg/(g·h),14.83 to 21.80 μg/(g·h),and AER was 1.47 to 2.83 μg/(g·h),1.40 to 2.00 μg/(g·h),respectively.OCR of red type was significantly lower than that of the green one in range of salinity 23 to 32(P<0.05),whereas AER only was significantly higher at salinity of 29 between the two types A.japonicus(P<0.05).4)Under different light color treatments OCR values for the red type and the green type covered range of 14.33-21.37 and 15.73-21.59 μg/(g·h),and AER covered 4.00-8.86 and 6.38-8.22 μg/(g·h),respectively.The OCR and AER were significantly different under white light treatment between the two types A.japonicus(P<0.05).This study demonstrated that the red type A.japonicus could tolerate higher temperature and was sensitive to lower temperature,while the green type showed an opposite tendency;The optimum salinity range for two types A.japonicus was 29-32;The green type may have broader light spectrum compared with the red type A.japonicus.Above all,the adaptability of the red and the green type A.japonicus to experimental conditions were well consistent with their natural habitats.