Holothuria glaberrima
{{Short description|Species of sea cucumber}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Holothuria glaberrima Selenka, 1867.jpg
|image_caption = Sketch of Holothuria glaberrima
|status = LC
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Holothuria
|species = glaberrima
|authority = Selenka, 1867
}}
Holothuria (Selenkothuria) glaberrima, also known as the brown rock sea cucumber,{{Cite web|title=ITIS Standard Report Page: Holothuria glaberrima|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=158324#null|access-date=2021-01-09|website=www.itis.gov}} is a species of sea cucumber in the genus Holothuria, subgenus Selenkothuria. The cucumber is distributed in the Western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico.{{Cite web|title=WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species – Holothuria (Selenkothuria) glaberrima Selenka, 1867|url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=241851#distributions|access-date=2021-01-09|website=www.marinespecies.org}} The species is found at a depth of 0–42 meters.{{Cite web|title=Holothuria glaberrima|url=https://www.sealifebase.ca/summary/Holothuria-glaberrima.html|access-date=2021-01-09|website=www.sealifebase.ca}}
Description
The body of Holothuria glaberrima is cigar-shaped, with a whorl of twenty bushy feeding tentacles at the anterior end surrounding the mouth. The cuticle is leathery and tough; the dorsal surface is smooth, while the ventral surface or "sole" bears three longitudinal rows of dark brown tube feet. This sea cucumber grows to a length of {{convert|10|to|15|cm|in|0|abbr=on}}. The general colour is blackish, dark brown or occasionally grey, without any spots, while the tentacles are black.{{cite book |title=A Field Guide to Coral Reefs: Caribbean and Florida |last=Kaplan |first=Eugene Herbert |year=1999 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn= 9780618002115 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLYPWMoBkccC&q=%22brown+rock+sea+cucumber%22&pg=PA200 }}
Distribution and habitat
Holothuria glaberrima is native to the tropical western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico; its range includes the West Indies. Florida, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. It occurs at depths down to about {{convert|42|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}}. It lives under rocks in areas with considerable water movement.
Research
Sea cucumbers are able to regenerate their complete digestive systems and grow back most parts of the body following injury. Because of this, and because of the closeness of the relationship of echinoderms to vertebrates, sea cucumbers have been used in regeneration research. Holothuria glaberrima has been widely used as a model organism for this purpose, and to facilitate these studies, the genome has been sequenced.{{cite journal |author1=Medina-Feliciano, Joshua G. |author2=Pirro, Stacy |author3=García-Arrarás, Jose E. |author4=Mashanov, Vladimir |author5=Ryan, Joseph F. |year=2021 |title=Draft genome of the sea cucumber Holothuria glaberrima, a model for the study of regeneration |journal=Frontiers in Marine Science |volume=8 |page=603410 |doi=10.3389/fmars.2021.603410 |doi-access=free |pmid=38741925 |pmc=11090492 }}
==References==
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Category:Echinoderms of the Atlantic Ocean