| Dactylochirotida | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Holothuroidea |
| Subclass: | Dendrochirotacea |
| Order: | Dactylochirotida Pawson and Fell, 1965 |
| Families | |
Dactylochirotida is an order of primitive sea cucumbers. Unlike other sea cucumbers, their tentacles are not divided into multiple branches, and the body is enclosed within a flexible shell-like structure called a test.
An echinoderm is any member of the phylum Echinodermata of marine animals. The adults are recognizable by their radial symmetry, and include starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or "stone lilies". Adult echinoderms are found on the sea bed at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7000 living species, making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes, after the chordates. Echinoderms are the largest phylum that has no freshwater or terrestrial members.
Cucumber is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae gourd family that bears cucumiform fruits, which are used as vegetables. There are three main varieties of cucumber—slicing, pickling, and burpless/seedless—within which several cultivars have been created. The cucumber originates from South Asia, but now grows on most continents, as many different types of cucumber are traded on the global market. In North America, the term wild cucumber refers to plants in the genera Echinocystis and Marah, though the two are not closely related.
Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothurian species worldwide is about 1,717 with the greatest number being in the Asia Pacific region. Many of these are gathered for human consumption and some species are cultivated in aquaculture systems. The harvested product is variously referred to as trepang, namako, bêche-de-mer or balate. Sea cucumbers serve a useful role in the marine ecosystem as they help recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus and other organic matter after which bacteria can continue the degradation process.
The California sea cucumber, also known as the giant California sea cucumber, is a sea cucumber that can be found from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. It is found from the low intertidal zone to a depth of 250 m (820 ft). They are most abundant in areas with moderate current with cobbles, boulders or bedrock. They are artisanally fished.
Pearlfish are marine fish in the ray-finned fish family Carapidae. Pearlfishes inhabit the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), along oceanic shelves and slopes. They are slender, elongated fish with no scales, translucent bodies, and dorsal fin rays which are shorter than their anal fin rays. Adults of most species live symbiotically inside various invertebrate hosts, and some live parasitically inside sea cucumbers. The larvae are free living.
Rathafandhoo is an inhabited island of the Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, Maldives.
Sea apple is a common name for the colorful and somewhat round sea cucumbers of the genera Pseudocolochirus, found in Indo-Pacific waters. Sea apples are filter feeders with tentacles, ovate bodies, and tube-like feet. As with many other holothurians, they can release their internal organs or a toxin into the water when stressed.
A cucumber is an edible vegetable.
Trepanging is the act of collection or harvesting of sea cucumbers, known in Indonesian as trepang, Malay těripang, and used as food. The collector, or fisher, of trepang is a trepanger.
Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea. They are used as food, in fresh or dried form, in various cuisines. In some cultural contexts the sea cucumber is thought to have medicinal value.
Evisceration is a method of autotomy involving the ejection of internal organs used by animals as a defensive strategy. Sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea) eject parts of the gut in order to scare and defend against potential predators such as crabs and fish. The organs are regenerated in a few days by cells in the interior of the sea cucumber.
Enypniastes is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumber. Due to its unique appearance, the genus has been dubbed the headless chicken fish, headless chicken monster, and the Spanish dancer. It is also known as the swimming sea cucumber, and some are called the pink see-through fantasia.
Elasipodida is an order of sea cucumbers. They have numerous appendages, including conical papillae and leaf-like tentacles. Although many species are benthic, a number are pelagic, and may have their appendages modified to form sails or fins. Most members of the order inhabit deep-sea environments, like Enypniastes.
Echinozoa is a subphylum of free-living echinoderms in which the body is or originally was a modified globe with meridional symmetry. Echinozoans lack arms, brachioles, or other appendages, and do not at any time exhibit pinnate structure. Their two extant classes are the sea urchins and the sea cucumbers.
Sea cucumber stocks have been overexploited in the wild, resulting in incentives to grow them by aquaculture. Aquaculture means the sea cucumbers are farmed in contained areas where they can be cultured in a controlled manner. In China, sea cucumbers are cultured, along with prawns and some fish species, in integrated multi-trophic systems. In these systems, the sea cucumbers feed on the waste and feces from the other species. In this manner, what would otherwise be polluting byproducts from the culture of the other species become a valuable resource that is turned into a marketable product.
Apostichopus japonicus is a species of sea cucumber in the family Stichopodidae. It is found in shallow temperate waters along the coasts of south east Asia and is commonly known as the Japanese spiky sea cucumber or the Japanese sea cucumber.
Cuvierian tubules are clusters of fine tubes located at the base of the respiratory tree in some sea cucumbers in the genera Bohadschia, Holothuria and Pearsonothuria, all of which are included in the family Holothuriidae. The tubules can be discharged through the anus when the sea cucumber is stressed. They lengthen when they come into contact with seawater and become adhesive when they encounter objects so that they function as a defence against potential predators. They are named after the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who first described them.
Veloxidium is a genus of parasitic alveolates in the phylum Apicomplexa. Species in this genus infect marine invertebrates.
Actinopyga agassizii, commonly known as five-toothed sea cucumber or West Indian sea cucumber, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. It was first described by German zoologist Emil Selenka in 1867. It is native to the Western Atlantic region, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and is harvested for food.
Barnes, Robert D. (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia, PA: Holt-Saunders International. p. 995. ISBN 0-03-056747-5.
 | This article about a prehistoric sea cucumber is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |