Myriotrochidae Explained

Myriotrochidae is a family of sea cucumbers.

Description and characteristics

Members of this family have digitate tentacles, bearing 2-8 digits on each side. They lack podia, radial canals and respiratory tree.

The soft body wall is supported by ossicles which are generally wheel-shaped with 8 or more spokes.

They are abyssal sea cucumbers, and may be the deepest-living group of echinoderms : species of the genera Myriotrochus and Prototrochus (such as Prototrochus bruuni) have been identified down to 10687m (35,062feet) deep.^[1]

List of genera

The following genera are recognised in the family Myriotrochidae:

• Acanthotrochus Danielssen & Koren, 1881 -- 3 species
• Achiridota Clark, 1908 -- 3 species
• †Hemisphaeranthos Terquem & Berthelin, 1875 -- 4 species
• Myriotrochus Steenstrup, 1851 -- 19 species
• Neolepidotrochus Bohn, 2005 -- 5 species
• Parvotrochus Gage & Billett, 1986 -- 1 species
• Prototrochus Belyaev & Mironov, 1982 -- 17 species
• Siniotrochus Pawson, 1971 -- 3 species
• Trochoderma Théel, 1877 -- 1 species

Notes and References

1. Web site: What are the Deepest known echinoderms ? . Mah . Christopher L. . 8 April 2014. The Echinoblog . .