Bathyplotes natans ( Sars, 1868 )

Samyn, Yves & Vandenspiegel, Didier, 2016, Sublittoral and bathyal sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from the Northern Mozambique Channel with description of six new species, Zootaxa 4196 (4), pp. 451-497 : 474

Bathyplotes natans ( Sars, 1868)

( Fig. 16 A – D)

Holothuria natans Sars, 1868: 20 .

Bathyplotes natans ; Rowe & Gates, 1995: 328 (synonymy); Pawson et al., 2009: 1202.

Material examined. Non-type material: IE-2007-772 (1 specimen, collected between Majunga and Cape Saint André)

Remarks. C-shaped rods have been reported from the body wall of several Bathyplotes species. As already noted by Östergren (1896), C-shaped ossicles are absent in the body wall of B. natans ; they are however present in the cloacal wall and in the longitudinal muscles, the latter being a new observation (fig. 12D).

This record is however the first for the Indian Ocean.

Figures

FIGURE 16. Bathyplotes natans (Sars, 1868). A – B: Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of specimen IE- 2007 - 772. C – D: SEM photos of ossicles from the body wall (C), the longitudinal muscles and cloaca (D). Scale bars: A, B = 1 cm; C = 20 µm; D = 10 µm.