©Anne Hoggett: Holothuria sp. 1 at Watson's Bay, 16 metres depth, at night (specimen 1). The solitary corals are Heteropsammia cochlea.
©Anne Hoggett: Holothuria sp. 1 at Watson's Bay, 16 metres depth, at night (specimen 2). The solitary coral just below the holothurian is Heterocyathus aequicostatus.
©Anne Hoggett: Head end of Holothuria sp. 1 lying on its side, Watson's Bay, 16 metres depth, at night (specimen 3).
Colours
Distinguishing features
A long, slender, soft-bodied, holothuroid that lives on soft substrate in water deeper than 15 metres, away from coral reef. Pale orange/brown above, darker around the papillae, and white below. Two distinctive, widely-spaced, pale lines, bare of papillae, run along each side of the dorsum.
Coleman (2007, p. 117) provides a photo of an individual of this distinctive species from Tweed Heads, NSW, labelled as Holothuria sp. An observation in iNaturalist (accessed 14 Apr 2022) is from the Solitary Islands.
Initially identified in LIFG as Holothuria (Stauropora) dofleinii, it appears that species is known from Indonesia, Japan and Hawaii but not Australia (Gustav Paulay as communicated by Steve Purcell in Apr 2022). Paulay (via Purcell in Apr 2022) suggests that this distinctive Australian species is Holothuria philippinensis but that name is considered a nomen dubium in WORMS (accessed 8 May 2022).
Size
- Up to 40 cm (Length)
Depth range
- Depth range data is not yet available.
Synonyms
Distribution
©Atlas of Living Australia: Australian distribution
Web resources
References
References that assist with identification
- Coleman, N. (2007). Sea Stars: Echinoderms of the Asia/Indo-Pacific Neville Coleman's Underwater Geographic, Springwood, Qld. Australia.