''Calveriosoma gracile'' is a species of

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Echinothurioida The Echinothurioida are an order of sea urchins in the class Echinoidea. Echinothurioids are distinguished from other sea urchins by the combination of a flexible test and hollow spines. The membrane around the mouth contains only simple plates, ...

. It is a deep water species and is found on the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

in western parts of the Pacific Ocean at depths of .

Description

''Calveriosoma gracile'' grows to a diameter of about and is scantily covered in short spines. It has a somewhat flattened globose shape resembling a cushion. It is one of a group of echinoderms that instead of having a rigid

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

consisting of fused calcareous plates, has a flexible leathery skin with loose, wedge-shaped plates embedded in it. This makes the boundaries between the plates easy to observe. Other distinguishing characteristics include hollow spines tipped with hoof-like structures and simple mouthparts. Echinoderms in this order were known only as

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s having been found in deposits such as the

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

beds of southern England dating back to the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

era. It was only in the ''Challenger'' expedition of the 1870s that living members of the group were found, when deep ocean floors were

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

to investigate the organisms living at these great depths.

Distribution and habitat

''Calveriosoma gracile'' is found on the seabed at depths between . It is known to occur in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

and near the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on soft sediments.

Biology

''Calveriosoma gracile'' is a

scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding b ...

and feeds on

algal Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

material and other organic

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 commun ...

that sinks to the sea floor. Little is known of its behaviour and life cycle but it is likely to have yolky, lecithotrophic eggs that float towards the surface before falling back to the seabed as is the case in its more studied relative, ''

Phormosoma placenta ''Phormosoma placenta'' is a species of sea urchin in the order Echinothurioida. It is a deepwater species, seldom being found at depths less than , and occurs on either side of the Atlantic Ocean on the continental slope. Description ''Phormo ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2301484 Echinothuriidae Animals described in 1881