Caudinidae is a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of
sea cucumbers
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 holothuria ...
, marine animals with elongated bodies, leathery skins and tentacles that are found on the sea floor.
Description
Members of the family Caudinidae are fairly small, plump sea cucumbers with a thin body wall and no tube feet. They are relatively inactive and live in a "U"-shaped burrow in sand or mud at the bottom of the sea. Their
tentacle
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s spread out above the sediment to catch food particles and their caudal region may be elongated and also extend to the surface. This may help with gas exchange as they have respiratory trees, a type of water lung, attached to the
cloaca
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, a ...
.
Marine Species Identification Portal
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Genera
The following genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
are accepted in the family Caudinidae:
*'' Acaudina'' Clark, 1907
*'' Caudina'' Stimpson, 1853
*'' Ceraplectana'' H.L. Clark, 1908
*'' Hedingia'' Deichmann, 1938
*'' Paracaudina'' Heding, 1931 [
]
References
Molpadiida
{{Holothuroidea-stub