Enypniastes
| Enypniastes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Enypniastes sp. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Echinodermata |
| Class: | Holothuroidea |
| Order: | Elasipodida |
| Family: | Pelagothuriidae |
| Genus: | Enypniastes |
Enypniastes is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumber.
Description and characteristics
Species in this genus have developed webbed swimming structures at the front and back of their bodies which enable them to swim up off the surface of the sea floor and to journey as much as 1000m up into the water column. This is thought to help the animals move to new feeding grounds and avoid predators.[1]
When Oceaneering ROV pilots saw and photographed the creature at 2500m depth they named it “The Headless Chicken Fish.”[2]
Species
Many species have been described in this genus, however they are now believed to be all synonyms of E. eximia[1] :
- Enypniastes eximia Théel, 1882 -- Pink swimming sea cucumber (only confirmed species to date)
- Enypniastes atlanticus (Heding, 1940)
- Enypniastes diaphana (Gilchrist, 1920)
- Enypniastes ecalcarea (Sluiter, 1901)
- Enypniastes obscura (Koehler & Vaney, 1905)
- video
Notes
- 1 2 Miller, J. E.; Pawson, David L., Swimming Sea Cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea): A Survey, with Analysis of Swimming Behavior in Four Bathyal Species, Smithsonian contributions to the marine sciences, no 35, 1990.
- ↑ http://www.oceaneering.com/category/oceaneeringnews/page/4/
References
- Mah, Christopher (September 18, 2012). "Deep-Sea Swimming Sea Cucumbers and the "most bizarre holothurian species in existence"!". The Echinoblog.
- http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/E/Enypniastes_eximia/
- The Blue Planet-http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/factfiles/starfish_urchins/swimming_sea_cucumber_bg.shtml
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