Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali

Description

Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali is a sea cucumber whose soft and somewhat cylindrical body can be from 15 to 40 cm in length. The surface is covered by numerous conical short outgrowths, generally white. The colour is variable, brown, black, yellowish with brown mottlings. The mouth, at one end of the tube-shaped body is surrounded by small oral tentacles used to collect the mud from which the sea cucumber extracts various nutrients. Divers may frequently discover under the guise of strings of small muddy tubes, wastes of digestion of sea cucumbers. When attacked or disturbed, Holothuria forskali may expel by the anus numerous white,long and sticking filaments which can be regenarated within a month. It lives on sandy or muddy bottoms and on rocks.

Distribution

Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali is found from surface to 70 m deep in the Atlantic Ocean, the English channel and the Mediterranean sea.

How to cite this page

Bay-Nouailhat A., May 2004, Description of Holothuria (Panningothuria) forskali, [On line] https://european-marine-life.org/30/holothuria-(panningothuria)-forskali.php, consulted on 2024 April 24.