FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

1176 Holothurians
Holothuria (Halodeima) atra Jaeger, 1833
Frequent synonyms / misidentifications: None / Holothuria leucospilota (Brandt, 1835).
FAO names: En -Lollyfish.
calcareous ring
spicule of
ventral podia
spicule of
tentacles
mouth ventral,
with 20 tentacles
black patches
anus
terminal
Diagnostic characters: Body cylindrical, elongate, with rounded ends. Tegument smooth, often covered
by sand, but also showing round patches lacking sand. A red toxic fluid is secreted upon rubbing the
body surface vigorously. Podia on bivium sparsely distributed, ending in a small disc around 150 µm in
diameter; podia on trivium numerous, short and stout, distributed on the radii and the interradii, their
calcareous disc around 500 µm in diameter. Mouth ventral, surrounded by 20 black tentacles. Anus
terminal. Calcareous ring with large radial pieces and narrow interradials. Cuvierian tubules absent.
Colour: entirely black. Spicules: tegument with tables and rosettes; tables with circular disc showing 8
holes (4 central and 4 smaller holes in between) and a spire of 4 pillars, ending in a maltese crown; rosettes
small and simple, more abundant in ventral tegument; ventral podia without rods, but with pseudo-plates;
dorsal podia and papillae with short rods, showing denticulate borders.
Size: Maximum length about 45 cm, commonly to about 20 cm; mean live weight about 0.2 kg (up to 1 kg);
body-wall thickness about 4 mm.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: The most common shallow-water species in the area, rarely found in
depths of more than 20 m; mostly on inner and outer reef flats and back reefs or shallow coastal lagoons;
abundant on sandy-muddy grounds with rubble or coral patches and in seagrass beds.The mean population
density is around 0.5/m 2 , but can exceed 4/m 2 . Inshore shallow-water populations are denser, composed
of smaller individuals, and reproduce mostly by transversal fission, while in deeper or outer reef populations
the individuals are more scattered, larger, and reproduce sexually. Traditionally harvested, but the
processed product is of low
commercial value. In recent
times, due to increasing
demand, this species also
appears in the processed
products of many Pacific
Islands. Collected by hand at
low tide while wading on the
reefs, or by divers.
Distribution: Widespread in
the tropical Indo-Pacific.
sand
spicules of tegument
(after Féral and Cherbonnier, 1986)