Dendrochirotida
Sea cucumbers with branched tentacles and suspension-feeding habits.
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Dendrochirotida is an order of sea cucumbers. These animals have branched tentacles and feed by filtering particles from the water. Thyonella and Cucumaria are two examples.
Members of this order possess ten to thirty highly branched tentacles, which may also be finger-like. A ring of ten calcareous plates surrounds the pharynx. They have retractor and introvert muscles, allowing them to pull the tentacles back into the mouth when they are not feeding. The body wall can be firm, containing large ossicles, or soft with few ossicles.
Some species attach to hard surfaces, while others burrow into soft sediment. They capture prey with sticky tentacles and move it to the mouth. Their larvae are lecithotrophic, meaning they do not feed on plankton but rely on nutrients within the egg until they settle and become juveniles.
Scientific classification
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumEchinodermata
- ClassHolothuroidea
- OrderDendrochirotida
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Dendrochirotida (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quick Facts
- Tentacle count
- ten to thirty
- Tentacle description
- much branched, sometimes digitate
- Pharyngeal ring
- ten calcareous plates
- Muscles
- retractor and introvert muscles
- Body wall
- firm with large ossicles or soft with few ossicles
- Larval type
- lecithotrophic
Facts from the source article.
More in Sea Cucumbers
Elsewhere in Sea Cucumbers and Brittle Stars
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Dendrochirotida (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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