Actinopyga agassizii ( Selenka, 1867 )

Prata, Jéssica, Manso, Cynthia L. C. & Christoffersen, Martin L., 2014, Aspidochirotida (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from the northeast coast of Brazil, Zootaxa 3889 (1), pp. 127-150 : 129

Actinopyga agassizii ( Selenka, 1867)

Mülleria Agassizii Selenka, 1867: 311 .

Actinopyga agassizii .— Deichmann, 1930: 78 –79; Hendler et al., 1995: 282 –284; Magalhães et al., 2005: 63; Pawson et al., 2010: 35 –36; Borrero-Pérez et al., 2012: 178; Queiroz et al., 2013: 110.

Material examined. No new material has been located here. The data below is based on the literature.

Type locality. Florida ( Deichmann 1930).

Diagnosis. See Pawson et al. (2010: 35–36).

Geographical distribution. United States (South Carolina, Florida, Gulf of Mexico), Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Belize, Haiti (Hispaniola), Jamaica, Barbados and Brazil (in State of Bahia) ( Magalhães et al. 2005, Pawson et al. 2010), up to 54 m ( Hendler et al. 1995).

Comments. The records for the coast of Bahia are listed in Magalhães et al. (2005) and Queiroz et al. (2013). This is the only species of the genus that occurs in the Western Atlantic and it has a wide distribution. Théel (1886) and Deichmann (1930) point out that A. agassizii is similar to Actinopyga mauritiana ( Quoy & Gaimard 1834) from the Indo-Pacific Ocean, but differs in the complexity of the ossicles. Ecological information on A. agassizii is scarce. According to Bolaños et al. (2005) it probably occurs in low densities. Laguarda-Figueras et al. (2001) mentioned that this species has pharmacological importance due to the presence of toxins in the Cuvierian organs and other parts of the body.