Warty Sea Cucumber
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroideaia
Order: Aspidochirotida
Family: Stichopodidae
Genus/species: Parastichopus parvimensis
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Colored brown above, lighter below. Conical black-tipped papillae on the dorsal side provide the common name. The mouth and anus are on opposite ends of their cylindrical bodies. Tube feet aide in gathering food as well as ambulating.Length to 25 cm (10 inches).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Monterey Bay, California to Baja California. Found on sandy or muddy-sandy soft bottoms between rocks or in eelgrass beds. Sub tidal to 27 m (89 feet) in depth.
DIET: Digests organic detritus and small organisms in soft sediments.
REPRODUCTION?DEVELOPMENT: Have separate sexes (look alike), and eggs are fertilized externally. Broadcast spawning usually takes place in November, and each female can produce thousands of eggs. After fertilization, a larva is formed which metamorphoses into a Sea Cucumber after a few weeks.
MORTALITY/LONGEVITY: Eaten by sea stars including the sunflower star. Sea otters and humans are also predators. Lifespan estimated to be 5-10 years in the wild.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red list; Not Evaluated
REMARKS: Holothuroids differ from echinoderms, because they have a water vascular system full of body fluid rather than sea water. Like other echinoderms, cucumbers have a calcareous skeleton; but in their case it is only vestigial, composed of plates and spicules of lime buried in the skin and serving merely to stiffen the body wall. Respiratory trees are the lungs of a sea cucumber. These hollow branched organs lie inside the body cavity on either side of the posterior intestine. The base of the tree connects to a muscular cavity, or cloaca. Oxygen is transferred across the thin membrane into the fluids of the body cavity. When the oxygen is depleted, the main body wall contracts to squeeze water out of the trees.
When threatened, it can expel all its internal organs through its anus (evisceration) and grow new ones in 2-4 weeks. It can also expel sticky filaments to ensnare or confuse predators. Warty sea cucumbers and their related species are sometimes called the “earthworms of the sea,” as they cultivate the seafloor in much the same manner as earthworms cultivate the soil. Oral tube feet around the mouth are covered with a sticky mucus that traps food particles from the seafloor's sediment and mud. In areas where overfishing has reduced the population of sea cucumbers, the seafloor hardens, thus destroying a habitat for other bottom-dwelling creatures. Can walk on tube feet if stressed up to one yard every 15 min..
Humans eat a variety of sea cucumber species, including Warty sea cucumbers. The demand is greatest in Asian countries, for consumption and folk medicine applications. It is considered to be widely overfished.
References
California Academy of Sciences Docent Tide pool training 2015
ADW Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Parastichopus_par...
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/597920/details
Monterey Bay Aquarium www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/invertebrates/wa...
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-s6
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3702926813/in/album-721...
Tidepool
8-9-12, 10-16-14, 12-7-15
Warty Sea Cucumber
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroideaia
Order: Aspidochirotida
Family: Stichopodidae
Genus/species: Parastichopus parvimensis
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Colored brown above, lighter below. Conical black-tipped papillae on the dorsal side provide the common name. The mouth and anus are on opposite ends of their cylindrical bodies. Tube feet aide in gathering food as well as ambulating.Length to 25 cm (10 inches).
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Monterey Bay, California to Baja California. Found on sandy or muddy-sandy soft bottoms between rocks or in eelgrass beds. Sub tidal to 27 m (89 feet) in depth.
DIET: Digests organic detritus and small organisms in soft sediments.
REPRODUCTION?DEVELOPMENT: Have separate sexes (look alike), and eggs are fertilized externally. Broadcast spawning usually takes place in November, and each female can produce thousands of eggs. After fertilization, a larva is formed which metamorphoses into a Sea Cucumber after a few weeks.
MORTALITY/LONGEVITY: Eaten by sea stars including the sunflower star. Sea otters and humans are also predators. Lifespan estimated to be 5-10 years in the wild.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red list; Not Evaluated
REMARKS: Holothuroids differ from echinoderms, because they have a water vascular system full of body fluid rather than sea water. Like other echinoderms, cucumbers have a calcareous skeleton; but in their case it is only vestigial, composed of plates and spicules of lime buried in the skin and serving merely to stiffen the body wall. Respiratory trees are the lungs of a sea cucumber. These hollow branched organs lie inside the body cavity on either side of the posterior intestine. The base of the tree connects to a muscular cavity, or cloaca. Oxygen is transferred across the thin membrane into the fluids of the body cavity. When the oxygen is depleted, the main body wall contracts to squeeze water out of the trees.
When threatened, it can expel all its internal organs through its anus (evisceration) and grow new ones in 2-4 weeks. It can also expel sticky filaments to ensnare or confuse predators. Warty sea cucumbers and their related species are sometimes called the “earthworms of the sea,” as they cultivate the seafloor in much the same manner as earthworms cultivate the soil. Oral tube feet around the mouth are covered with a sticky mucus that traps food particles from the seafloor's sediment and mud. In areas where overfishing has reduced the population of sea cucumbers, the seafloor hardens, thus destroying a habitat for other bottom-dwelling creatures. Can walk on tube feet if stressed up to one yard every 15 min..
Humans eat a variety of sea cucumber species, including Warty sea cucumbers. The demand is greatest in Asian countries, for consumption and folk medicine applications. It is considered to be widely overfished.
References
California Academy of Sciences Docent Tide pool training 2015
ADW Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan
animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Parastichopus_par...
Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/597920/details
Monterey Bay Aquarium www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/invertebrates/wa...
Ron's Wordpress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-s6
Ron's flickr www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3702926813/in/album-721...
Tidepool
8-9-12, 10-16-14, 12-7-15