Saturday, January 5, 2019

Little feet

It's been a while since I've shown a marine invertebrate, so here are a few quick photos of a Scarlet Sea Cucumber (Lissothuria nutriens) that Eric encountered recently.  This is a very small individual — only ~4 mm long!  In the pictures below, keep your eyes open for the shiny plates (or ossicles) visible in the body wall, tube feet, and tentacles.

 


 


One with a ruler for scale (tick marks are in millimeters):

 


A close-up of a few tube feet:

 


And a close-up of the tentacles: 

 

P.S.  I've shared some images of adult Scarlet Sea Cucumbers in the past.  For more information, photos, and a video, see the posts called "Scarlet O'Holothuroid" on 22 January 2015 and "Scarlet fire" on 12 February 2017.
 
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2 comments:

  1. James RutherfordJanuary 7, 2019 at 10:03 AM

    Reading your earlier post on Lissothuria regarding dispersal. Cucumaria pseudocurata which is also a brooder and which I collected from south of Monterey to the Queen Charlotte Islands over 40 years ago has the same problem regarding dispersal. It lays eggs in December and January when storms could wash away the very small eggs and young. Perhaps this timing helps with dispersal?

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  2. Jackie SonesJanuary 7, 2019 at 8:46 PM

    Hi, Jim! Interesting idea about storms and dispersal! Do you know when Lissothuria broods? (I can't recall, but perhaps Eric will remember.) It would be amazing to know more about the paths and journeys taken by the eggs and juveniles!

    Jackie

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