Holothuriidae

Authority, Date

5 Genera, 1 monotypic; 166 species

Tentacle ampullae present. Gonads only on the left side of dorsal mesentery. Respiratory trees usually connected with alimentary canal through rete mirabile. Stone canal not connected with body wall. Cuvierian organs present. Deposits usually tables and buttons or derivatives of pointed rods. No C-shaped bodies. (Mortensen, 1927)

With respiratory trees, rete mirabile, well developed tentacular ampullae and gonads in a single tuft to the left of the dorsal mesentery. Tentacles 20-30, in most species 20. Mouth terminal and ventral. Body form cylindrical to flattened, with appendages in different arrangements and different developments as cylindrical tube feet or more papilliform, with sucking disc reduced or lacking. Spicules diversified, in most forms an outer layer of tables, absent or reduced in some groups. An inner layer of buttons, regular or irregular, knobbed or smooth, rosettes rods and plates. With the outer layer lacking or reduced, the inner layer is usually well developed, except in some surf loving groups. Tube feet free mostly, with end plate and a varying number of supporting rods or plates, end plate reduced or lacking and rods, if present, mostly curved or short. (Deichmann, 1958)