Dr. Bill is Stumped on this Sea Cucumber

[drbill]

I've contacted a number of scientists familiar with the sea cucumbers of SoCal and no one was able to ID this sea cucumber. I've seen it for a number of years in the Twin Rocks-Goat Harbor area on the leeward side of Catalina Island, and recently filmed it at Hen Rock where I've never seen it before.

I am fairly certain it is in the genus Holothuria, and most likely is a species more common in the Baja California region. Most of the specimens I see are encrusted in algae, etc., and very few offer a look at a clean dorsal surface. I have also included an image in the lower right of Holothuria zacae which is found on Catalina as its northernmost distribution limit. Note what appears to be a similarity between it and the images in the upper and lower left of the first collage. The second collage shows the unid species eviscerating.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[fisherdvm]

Maybe a case of sea cucumber with the mange?? Our local news station reported a strange creature photographed by a local person. They tried to claim it to be all kinds of strange species.

What I really saw was, simply a coyote with a bad case of atopic dermatitis, flea allergy, or sarcoptic mange.

Do you wonder if rather than being a new species, it might just be a sickly old one? Of course, the only cucumber I can identify is a dill pickle.

 

[drbill]

No, not an oldie but moldie... there are too many individuals that look just like this individual to suggest that. I don't really think it is a new species, just an unidentified one.

 

[SeeTheSeas]

If it is relatively flacid, I would say Holothuria impatiens. There is a second species that also resembles this that has a rigid body but I can't find the reference right now. I'll check when I get to my lab tomorrow.

 

[drbill]

It seems to have a somewhat rigid body most of the time I find them.

 

[DavidPT40]

Any chance that this might be a new species?

 

[drbill]

I don't think it is a new species, possibly just one outside its normal range. We have several species from Baja and further south that have established in our waters following El Nino events... the finescale triggerfish (see my Dive Dry newspaper column #28) and the scythe butterflyfish (see columns 45, 155, 204 and 242) are two good examples.