Orange-footed sea cucumber
| Cucumaria frondosa | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Holothuroidea |
| Order: | Dendrochirotida |
| Family: | Cucumariidae |
| Genus: | Cucumaria |
| Species: | C. frondosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Cucumaria frondosa (Gunnerus, 1767) [1] |
|
The Orange-footed sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) is the largest sea cucumber in New England.[2] It is one of the most abundant and widespread species of holothurians within the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea (Russia), [3] being most abundant along the eastern coast of North America. [4][5]
[edit] Description
These sea cucumbers reach around 20 cm (8 in) in length and have ten branched oral tentacles ranging in colour from orange to black.[6] This species has a football shape with a leathery skin ranging in colour from yellowish white to dark brownish-black and is covered with five rows of retractile tube feet.[6][7] The young are about 1 mm to 6 mm long and are translucent orange and pink.[6] Three of these bands of tube feet are found on bottom whereas the top rows are often reduced. Adults of C. frondosa have a reduced numbers of spicules (skeletal structures) shaped like rounded plates with many holes.[8] The sexes can be identified by the conspicuous tube-shaped (female) or heart-shaped (male) gonopore located under the crown of oral tentacles.[9]
[edit] Habitat
Their habitat is rocks, crevices or low-tide Arctic water.[10] They are known to cover vast areas of the substrate at depths of less than 30 meters (100 ft). [11][12]
[edit] References
- ^ Hansson, Hans (2010). "Cucumaria frondosa (Gunnerus, 1767)". World Register of Marine Species. http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=124612. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
- ^ Leland W. Pollock 1998 - A Practical Guide to the Marine Animals of Northeastern North America -Rutgers University Press Page 276
- ^ Gudimova, E.N., Gudimov, A., and Colline, P. 2004. A study of the biology for fishery in two populations of Cucumaria frondosa: In the Barents Sea (Russia) and in the Gulf of Maine (USA). In Echinoderms: München. Edited by T. Heinzeller and J.H. Nebelsick. CRC Press, London.
- ^ Hyman, L.H. 1955. The invertebrates: Echinodermata. McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York.
- ^ Jordan, A.J. 1972. On the ecology and behavior of Cucumaria frondosa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) at Lamoine Beach, Maine. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Biology, The University of Maine, Orono, M.E. 74 pp.
- ^ a b c Gosner, K.L. 1978. This species of Sea Cucumber can move about two feet per day. It is able to accomplish this task by the movement of its stomach wall muscles. Peterson field guides: Atlantic seashore. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
- ^ Jordan, A. J. 1972. On the ecology and behaviour of Cucumaria frondosa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea at Lamoine Beach, Maine. Ph.D. thesis, University of Maine and Orono, Orono. United States.
- ^ Levin, V. S., and Gudimova, E. N. 2000. Taxonomic interrelations of holothurians Cucumaria frondosa and C. japonica (Dendrochirotida, Cucumariidae). S.P.C. Beche-de-mer Inf. Bull. 13: 22-29.
- ^ Hamel, J.-F. and Mercier, A. 1996a. Early development, settlement, growth, and spatial distribution of the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53: 253-271.
- ^ Andrew J. Martinez - 2003 - Marine Life of the North Atlantic: Canada to New England - Aqua Quest Publications Page 178
- ^ Jordan, A.J. 1972. On the ecology and behavior of Cucumaria frondosa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) at Lamoine Beach, Maine. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Biology, The University of Maine, Orono, M.E. 74 pp.
- ^ Singh, R., MacDonald, B.A., Lawton, P., and Thomas, M.L.H. 1998. Feeding response of the dendrochirote sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) to changing food concentrations in the laboratory. Can. J. Zool. 76: 1842-1849.
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