Dear Francisco
Your e-mail has reference. Although I have worked with many West African holothuroids this beast is really intriguing. I wonder if it still a juvenile and that adult ossicles will only develop later or whether it is a diminutive adult. If the latter then we have here a new species of a cucumariid, judging from the calcareous ring and ossicles illustrated. Please dissect one to see the maturity of the gonad and for this choose the largest specimen. I don't mind looking at the species and describing it if you can ask your colleague to forward then to me at the address below. By the way how are things treating you in Mexico, especially that the next IEC is approaching?
Best wishes to you and yours.
Ahmed

Dr. Ahmed Thandar PhD
Emeritus Professor
School of Life Sciences : Biology & Conservation
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Westville Campus
P/Bag X54001
Durban 4000
South Africa

Phones:  +27 (0)31 2607972 (B); +27 (0)31 2627690 (R)
Mobile:   + 27(0) 836164565
Fax:          0866593630

-----Original Message-----
From: flmnh-aspidolist [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Solis Marin Francisco Alonso
Sent: 14 May 2013 08:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Some ID help..

Dear Friends,

A colleague of us in Spain (Dr Francisco Ramil, Universidad de Oviedo,
Spain) found a small Cucumaridae(?)  (9-16 mm length) (off Mauritania, Africa; seven specimens, 109-11 m depth) with ten tentacles, the ventral-most are smaller than the rest. Five rows of tube feet restricted to the ambulacral areas, and.. as you can see in the PDF attached to this mail (sorry! captions in Spanish), it only have one kind of ossicles in the body wall, these are small baskets scattered through the body wall..they can be seen at the naked eye.
You can see some pics of the whole specimen, ossicles, calcareous ring, etc.
Dr Cherbonnier, Dr Massin , Dr Thandar and Dr Samyn have many papers on African sea cuckes ... but I never saw this beast picture in their works!
Can you help us?

Cheers,

Francisco

Dr. Francisco A. Solís-Marín
Jefe de la Unidad Académica Ecología y Biodiversidad Acuática.
Colección Nacional de Equinodermos
"Dra. Ma. E. Caso Muñoz"
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Circuito Universitario s/n Deleg. Coyoacán Mexico, D,F., CP. 04510 Tel. (52) 56-22-58-43
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