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Holothurian
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 decomposition process. Like all echinoderms, sea cucumbers have an endoskeleton just below the skin, calcified structures that are usually reduced to isolated microscopic ossicles (or sclerietes) joined by connective tissue. In some species these can sometimes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelagothuriidae
Pelagothuriidae is a family of deep-sea swimming sea cucumbers. They are somewhat unusual in appearance, in comparison with other sea cucumbers, having numerous appendages, including conical papillae and leaf-like tentacles. Most of them are benthopelagic, which means that they are able to swim for a time from the bottom : the species ''Pelagothuria natatrix'' is the only true pelagic holothurian (and echinoderm, to date) ; it looks like a jellyfish. Most members of the order inhabit deep-sea environments, like ''Enypniastes''. Classification Family: Pelagothuriidae * genus ''Enypniastes ''Enypniastes'' is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumber. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species ''Enypniastes eximia''. Due to its unique appearance, the species has been dubbed the headless chicken fish, headless chicken monster, ...'' Théel, 1882 * genus '' Pelagothuria'' Ludwig, 1893 References * * Notes Echinoderm families {{Holothuroidea-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelenota Ananas
''Thelenota ananas'', also known as pineapple sea cucumber, oloturia ananas, tripang, prickly skin cucumber, pointed teat sea cucumber, armoured sea cucumber, giant sea cucumber, sand fish or prickly redfish, is a species of sea cucumber found in tropical Indo-Pacific waters from the Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii and Polynesia. Description ''Thelenota ananas'' (pineapple sea cucumber) is a species of sea cucumber characterized by its large size, warm colors, and pointed, star-shaped teats covering the entire body, grouped in rows of 2 or 3, as seen in Figure 1. Their body is reddish-orange in color, with the teats slightly darker. They are able to reach up to 70 centimeters (28 in) in length, with a weight of between 3 kg to 6 kg, and have numerous large tube feet on the flat ventral side of their body. ''T. ananas'' is a slow growing organism. Environment The environment of ''T. ananas'' is found in clean, sandy bottoms of lagoons with a depth of up to 30 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apodida
Apodida is an order of littoral to deep-sea, largely infaunal holothurians, sea cucumbers. This order comprises three families, 32 genera and about 270 known species, called apodids, "without feet". Characteristics These sea cucumbers are vagile holothurians with an elongated shape (up to 3 meters for ''Synapta maculata''), worm or snake-like. Their shape is adapted for burrowing through the sediment, sometimes in a fashion similar to earthworms. Their mouth is surrounded with 10-25 pinnate or peltate tentacles. The absence of tube feet gives the order its name, ''Apodida'' meaning ''without feet'' : they move by crawling on the sediment, hence they need flat bottoms with few current. Members of this order have a circum-oral ring and tentacles, but do not have tube feet or radial canals. They also lack the complex respiratory trees found in other sea cucumbers, and respire and excrete nitrogenous waste through their skin. The ossicles, minute calcareous plates embedded in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pelagothuria Natatrix
''Pelagothuria'' is a genus of sea cucumbers in the family Pelagothuriidae. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species ''Pelagothuria natatrix''. Characteristics This sea cucumber is somewhat unusual in appearance in comparison with other sea cucumbers (and even within its family), as it looks more like a jellyfish with its large umbrella-like swimming structure supported by a ring of around 12 highly modified oral tentacles, its small tapered body and its swimming position with the mouth on top. The body is translucent with a pale purple pigmentation. The mouth is surrounded by around 15 short feeding tentacles like any sea cucumber, and the veil can be contracted like jellyfishes do (it is interrupted at the central ventral radius). The animal seems to reach around 16 cm in total diameter. This species constitutes the only true pelagic holothurian (and even echinoderm) known to date. However, its swimming seems mostly passive, more like slightly controlled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elasipodida
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, such as the species of the genus ''Enypniastes''. Classification The following families are recognised in the order Elasipodida: * family Elpidiidae Théel, 1882 * family Laetmogonidae Ekman, 1926 * family † Palaeolaetmogonidae Reich, 2012 * family Pelagothuriidae Ludwig, 1893 * family Psychropotidae Théel, 1882 Image:Pelagothuria natatrix.jpg, The only true pelagic echinoderm known to date : ''Pelagothuria natatrix'' (here close to the Galapagos). Image:Expl0790 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg, ''Benthodytes sp.'' Image:Scotoplanes globosa and crab.jpg, ''Scotoplanes globosa'' (a.k.a. "sea pig", family Elpidiidae) Image:Expl5475.jpg, A Pelagothuriidae Image:Expl5494.jpg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Actinopyga Echinites
''Actinopyga echinites'', commonly known as the brownfish or deep water redfish, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. It is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region and is harvested for food. Description ''Actinopyga echinites'' grows to a length of about . It is widest in the middle, tapering slightly at both ends; the dorsal surface is arched while the ventral surface is flattened. The leathery skin is rough, being covered in papillae. The skin is strengthened by the presence of spicules, microscopic spike-like structures, which in this species are shaped like large rods. The colour of this sea cucumber is brown above and orange-brown below, and the upper surface often has sand adhering to it. The anus is surrounded by five beige anal teeth, and the pinkish Cuvierian tubules are occasionally discharged through the anus when the animal is stressed. Distribution and habitat ''Actinopyga echinites'' is found off the coasts of Asia and Africa, in the tropic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trepanging
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. Trepanging is comparable to clamming, crabbing, lobstering, musseling, shrimping and other forms of "fishing" whose goal is the acquisition of edible invertebrates rather than fish. History To supply the markets of Southern China, Makassarese trepangers traded with the Aboriginal Australians of Arnhem Land from at least the 18th century or likely prior. This Makassan contact with Australia is the first recorded example of interaction between the inhabitants of the Australian continent and their Asian neighbours. This contact had a major impact on the Indigenous Australians. The Makassarese exchanged goods such as cloth, tobacco, knives, rice and alcohol for the right to trepang coastal waters and employ local labour. Makassar pidgin became a ''lingua franca'' along the north ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Ecosystem
Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply and 90% of habitable space on Earth. Seawater has an average salinity of 35 parts per thousand of water. Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many invertebrates live. The intertidal zone is the area between high and low tides. Other near-shore (neritic) zones can include mudflats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, rocky intertidal systems, salt marshes, coral reefs, lagoons. In the deep water, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detritus
In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decompose (i.e. remineralize) it. In terrestrial ecosystems it is present as leaf litter and other organic matter that is intermixed with soil, which is denominated " soil organic matter". The detritus of aquatic ecosystems is organic material that is suspended in the water and accumulates in depositions on the floor of the body of water; when this floor is a seabed, such a deposition is denominated "marine snow". Theory The corpses of dead plants or animals, material derived from animal tissues (e.g. molted skin), and fecal matter gradually lose their form due to physical processes and the action of decomposers, including grazers, bacteria, and fungi. Decomposition, the process by which or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organic Matter
Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals. Organic molecules can also be made by chemical reactions that do not involve life. Basic structures are created from cellulose, tannin, cutin, and lignin, along with other various proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Organic matter is very important in the movement of nutrients in the environment and plays a role in water retention on the surface of the planet. Formation Living organisms are composed of organic compounds. In life, they secrete or excrete organic material into their environment, shed body parts such as leaves and roots and after organisms die, their bodies are broken down by bacterial and fungal action. Larger molecules of organic matter can be formed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endoskeleton
An endoskeleton (From Greek ἔνδον, éndon = "within", "inner" + σκελετός, skeletos = "skeleton") is an internal support structure of an animal, composed of mineralized tissue. Overview An endoskeleton is a skeleton that is on the inside of a body, like humans, dogs, or some fish. The endoskeleton develops within the skin or in the deeper body tissues. The vertebrate endoskeleton is basically made up of two types of tissues (bone and cartilage). During early embryonic development the endoskeleton is composed of notochord and cartilage. The notochord in most vertebrates is replaced by the vertebral column and cartilage is replaced by bone in most adults. In three phyla and one subclass of animals, endoskeletons of various complexity are found: Chordata, Echinodermata, Porifera, and Coleoidea. An endoskeleton may function purely for support (as in the case of sponges), but often serves as an attachment site for muscle and a mechanism for transmitting muscular forces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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