Alexander Semenov, Russland
Info
Eupentacta fraudatrix is a rather small sea cucumber that is primarily native to temperate to cooler waters.
The sea cucumber belongs to the class Holothuroidea, please do not confuse it with the family of the rather problematic Holothuriidae (Cuvier's tubes)!
Recent studies on Eupentacta fraudatrix have revealed a special form of symbiosis with a copepod, an ectosymbiosis.
In the Peter Gross Bay of the East Sea (Sea of Japan), 47 specimens of the sea cucumber Eupentacta fraudatrix were examined, all of which were occupied by the copepod Vostoklaophonte eupenta.
Among the copepods, only one species of Tisbidae Stebbing, 1910 - Sacodiscus humesi Stock, 1960 - and two species of Laophontidae T. Scott, 1905 - Microchelonia californiensis (Ho & Perkins, 1977) and Microchelonia koreensis (Kim, 1991) - were found in association with sea cucumbers (Huys, 2016).
This is the third record of laophontid copepods living in symbiosis with sea cucumbers.
Sea cucumbers of the order Dendrochirotida, and thus Eupentacta fraudatrix, belong to the suspension feeders and not to the deposit feeders (order Aspidochirotida).
Synonym: Cucumaria fraudatrix D'yakonov & Baranova in D'yakonov, Baranova & Savel'eva, 1958
The sea cucumber belongs to the class Holothuroidea, please do not confuse it with the family of the rather problematic Holothuriidae (Cuvier's tubes)!
Recent studies on Eupentacta fraudatrix have revealed a special form of symbiosis with a copepod, an ectosymbiosis.
In the Peter Gross Bay of the East Sea (Sea of Japan), 47 specimens of the sea cucumber Eupentacta fraudatrix were examined, all of which were occupied by the copepod Vostoklaophonte eupenta.
Among the copepods, only one species of Tisbidae Stebbing, 1910 - Sacodiscus humesi Stock, 1960 - and two species of Laophontidae T. Scott, 1905 - Microchelonia californiensis (Ho & Perkins, 1977) and Microchelonia koreensis (Kim, 1991) - were found in association with sea cucumbers (Huys, 2016).
This is the third record of laophontid copepods living in symbiosis with sea cucumbers.
Sea cucumbers of the order Dendrochirotida, and thus Eupentacta fraudatrix, belong to the suspension feeders and not to the deposit feeders (order Aspidochirotida).
Synonym: Cucumaria fraudatrix D'yakonov & Baranova in D'yakonov, Baranova & Savel'eva, 1958
