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Holothurians of the family Psychropotidae are widely distributed but the least studied deep-sea sea cucumbers. On an expedition to the western Pacific, six Psychropotidae were collected by the Jiaolong Human Operated Vehicle (HOV). Morphological examinations identified four of them as a new species, Benthodytes jiaolongi, characterized by tiny papillae, a narrow margin, and a terminal anus.The other two specimens were identified as Psychropotes verrucicaudatus Xiao, Gong, Kou & Li, 2019, which was first recorded at Kyushu-Palau Ridge.
In March 2022, the deep-sea cucumber Benthodytes jiaolongi Yu, Zhang, Zhang & Wang, 2022 was first described from the Weijia Guyot deep-sea seamount (Western Pacific Ocean) and the Kyushu-Palau Ridge (Philippine Sea).
Paratypes:
Paratype RSIO3710601 showed a reddish purple coloration on the seafloor, was 22cm long and 5cm wide
The paratype RSIO590504 was also reddish purple and also 22cm long.
The third paratype IO590506 had the same coloration but was only 13cm long.
Benthodytes jiaolongi is characterized by 18 tentacles.
The species name "jiaolongi" is derived from the first Chinese HOV "Jiaolong".
Source:
Yu C, Zhang D, Zhang R, Wang C (2022) New psychropotid species (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea, Elasipodida) of the Western Pacific with phylogenetic analyses.
ZooKeys 1088: 99-114. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1088.69141
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
In March 2022, the deep-sea cucumber Benthodytes jiaolongi Yu, Zhang, Zhang & Wang, 2022 was first described from the Weijia Guyot deep-sea seamount (Western Pacific Ocean) and the Kyushu-Palau Ridge (Philippine Sea).
Paratypes:
Paratype RSIO3710601 showed a reddish purple coloration on the seafloor, was 22cm long and 5cm wide
The paratype RSIO590504 was also reddish purple and also 22cm long.
The third paratype IO590506 had the same coloration but was only 13cm long.
Benthodytes jiaolongi is characterized by 18 tentacles.
The species name "jiaolongi" is derived from the first Chinese HOV "Jiaolong".
Source:
Yu C, Zhang D, Zhang R, Wang C (2022) New psychropotid species (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea, Elasipodida) of the Western Pacific with phylogenetic analyses.
ZooKeys 1088: 99-114. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1088.69141
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
