Pourtalesia alcocki
| Pourtalesia alcocki | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pourtalesia alcocki | ||||||||||||
| Koehler , 1914 |
Pourtalesia alcocki is an irregular sea urchin in the family Pourtalesiidae. The benthic species inhabits the soft sediments in the deep sea and isnative tothe western Indian Ocean at depths between 1450 and 2380 m. The distribution area extends from the Gulf of Oman to South Africa . The species was named after the British naturalist Alfred William Alcock .
features
It is a representative of the irregular sea urchins, i. H. the animals are bilaterally symmetrical . The animals take on an elongated body shape that is rather unusual for sea urchins. The species is similar to Pourtalesia laguncula u. a. by the posterior, upwardly curved subanalrostrum, but differs from it by its size. So achieved P. alcocki mm a length of 50, whereas P. laguncula a length of 30 mm does not exceed. Furthermore, the plastron keel on the oral side is more pronounced in P. alcocki than in P. laguncula .
The lantern of Aristotle , which is characteristic of most sea urchins and which is used to pick up and chop up food particles, is absent from all Pourtalesia.
ecology
The irregular deep-sea sea urchins represent detritus eaters. For their nutrition they are dependent on the sedimenting sea snow . The animals eat the sediment sludge and filter out the usable nutrients.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schultz, Heinke AG: Handbook of Zoology. Echinoidea: with bilateral symmetry. Irregularia. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, Berlin, ISBN 3-11-036853-6 , p. 131 .
- ^ WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Pourtalesia alcocki Koehler, 1914. Retrieved May 1, 2019 .