Cucumaria

de Blainville, 1834

39 species

Body cylindrical or with 5 longitudinal ridges, but then not strongly swollen in the middle. The skin usually thick, often quite stiff because of deposits; never spinous. The two ventral tentacles usually much smaller than the others. Tube feet in distinct, usually double series along the radii, more rarely also in interradii. (Mortensen, 1927)

ten Tentacles. The calcareous ring is simple, without forked tails. In the body wall, thin plates with unchanged large perforations, smooth or covered with isolated spines. The spiny cover can pile up on a slender side. (3195) *The genus Cucumaria appears to me, in the form at hand, to be a genus of collected forms herein which species are found, which do not belong together; however, I cannot place the species here presented in another way. Later on: Deichmann (1941) speaks of the genus Cucumaria and gives it, in comparison to earlier, a very much narrower context. I go one step further. It seems proper to me to leave only those species in the genus Cucumaria sensu stricto whose calcareous deposits are pronouncedly thin and only occur in one form and in moderate numbers. Only thus can we give the genus a clear and complete framework. Species with strong calcareous deposits or armour of strong thick plates do not belong here. (Panning, 1949)