Pentamera pulcherrima Ayres, 1854

Pawson, David L., Pawson, Doris J. & King, Rachael A., 2010, A taxonomic guide to the Echinodermata of the South Atlantic Bight, USA: 1. Sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Zootaxa 2449, pp. 1-48 : 25

Pentamera pulcherrima Ayres, 1854

Figure 6 a, 18

Pentamera pulcherrima Ayres, 1854: 121 ; Pawson, 1977: 12, text-fig. 16. Cucumaria pulcherrima .— Deichmann, 1930: 157, pl.11 figs.13–16.

Material examined. SERTC 1046, Inlet Creek, behind Sullivan’s Island, SC, 32°47.7'N, 79°49.24'W, 2.4 m, coll. SERTC Staff, May 13 2004. SERTC 1047, Folly Beach, SC, 32°39.2'N, 79°56.5'W, coll. J. Monck, April 9 2004. SERTC 2130, off Charleston Harbor, 32°30.28'N, 79°38.56'W, 20.1 m, coll. SERTC Staff, April 30 2005. SERTC 2458, southeast end of Folly Island, SC, 32°38.56'N, 79°58.47'W, 0.7 m, coll. D. Knott, February 26 2002. SERTC 2208, Edisto Beach, SC, 0.5 m, coll. GML Staff, March 19 1973.

Diagnosis. Body about 5 cm in length, with anterior and posterior ends upturned. Color white to pinkish to dirty brown. Feet confined to radii. Tentacles 10, bushy, with the 2 ventral smaller. Skin thin, wrinkled and stiff because of the abundance of ossicles. Ossicles regular, oval tables (to 70 μm long) with 4 holes and a low spire, composed of 2 rods ending in 2–3 blunt teeth. A few thin, elongate plates with 2 central holes, and a variable number of smaller holes near the ends, may be found. A great number of irregular plates crowded around anus.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Some SERTC holothurians. a) Pentamera pulcherrima; b) Thyonella pervicax; c) Aslia pygmaea; d) Holothuria princeps; e) Actinopyga agassizii; f) Isostichopus badionotus. Scalebars: a = 1 cm; b, c = 2 cm; d, e, f = 5 cm.