White-spotted sea cucumber
| White-spotted sea cucumber | ||||||||||||
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White-spotted sea cucumber ( Holothuria leucospilota ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Holothuria leucospilota | ||||||||||||
| ( Brandt , 1835) |
The white-spotted sea cucumber ( Holothuria leucospilota ) ( Gr . Leukos = white, spilos = spot), also known as the snake sea cucumber , is a sea cucumber that grows 60 to 90 centimeters long . The animals are found in the Red Sea and the tropical Indo-Pacific from the Maldives to Japan, Hawaii and Australia. They live individually or in groups in shallow water on sandy or rubble bottoms, at depths of 0 to 10 meters. Often their rear end is wedged between coral sticks or hidden under stones. It is very common in many Indo-Pacific coral reefs .
features
The body of the white-spotted sea cucumber is slender, very soft and supple and can be stretched out or shortened if it is disturbed. It is black, more rarely black-brown in color. The skin is covered with numerous soft, pointed papillae and scattered, small white spots. There are 18 to 20 mouth tentacles around the mouth of the white-spotted sea cucumber, with which it scans the sea floor for edible organic substances and components of the meiofauna .
literature
- Harry Erhardt / Hans A. Baensch : Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 4 , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-023-6
- Svein A. Fossa / Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium Volume 6 , Schmettkamp Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6
Web links
- Holothuria leucospilota onthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Conand, C., Purcell, S. & Gamboa, R., 2010. Retrieved February 12, 2014.