Isostichopus badionotus

Ge­o­graphic Range

Pop­u­la­tions of Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus are pri­mar­ily seen along the north­ern Pa­cific coast of South Amer­ica and around the Gala­pa­gos Is­lands. An­other re­gion highly pop­u­lated with this species is along the north­east­ern shores of Venezuela. (Jenk­ins and Mul­liken, Jan­u­ary 1999)

Habi­tat

Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus, like most echin­o­derms, pre­fer shal­low water. The most suit­able en­vi­ron­ments for these "bot­tom-feed­ing" an­i­mals are sub­strates set in the calm wa­ters of chan­nels and coves, shielded by high cover. (Gos­ner, 1978; Guz­man and Gue­vara, 2002)

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus is shaped like a cu­cum­ber. It is ra­di­ally sym­met­ri­cal and lacks spines (typ­i­cal of Echin­o­der­mata). The three-rowed sea cu­cum­ber also lacks any true ap­pendages other than its tube feet. The an­i­mal is mostly solid in color, how­ever, the side of its body that it uses to move along the sea floor is slightly lighter in pig­ment. Cal­care­ous de­posits are em­bed­ded in the epi­der­mal layer of this an­i­mal. Hav­ing def­i­nite an­te­rior and pos­te­rior ends, the sea cu­cum­ber has a large mouth sur­rounded by bushy ten­ta­cles with thick bases that di­vide into nu­mer­ous tiny branches. A dark pig­mented peri­s­to­mial mem­brane sur­rounds a cir­cu­lar lip. (Bul­lough, 1950)

  • Range length
    .02 to 2 m
    0.07 to 6.56 ft
  • Average length
    .10 - .30 m
    ft

De­vel­op­ment

The three-rowed sea cu­cum­ber is a tubu­lar or­gan­ism, formed in spe­cial­ized pelagic lar­val stages. In re­pro­duc­tion, sperm and eggs are re­leased into the water & de­vel­op­ing young un­dergo a com­plex meta­mor­phi­sis. Or­gans and tis­sues are al­most com­pletely re­gen­er­a­tive. (Bul­lough, 1950; Gos­ner, 1978)

Re­pro­duc­tion

Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus have sep­a­rate sexes and pos­sess a re­pro­duc­tive sys­tem con­sist­ing of a sin­gle gonad and ei­ther an oviduct or a vas def­er­ens. In tem­per­ate cli­mates, eggs are laid in late win­ter and early spring. Sperm reach the eggs by way of the water. The fer­til­ized eggs de­velop into free-swim­ming pelagic lar­vae.

A unique re­pro­duc­tive mech­a­nism of Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus is the abil­ity to di­vide it­self into two. (Conde, 1996)

  • Breeding season
    Late Winter/Early Spring

There is no parental in­vest­ment be­yond spawn­ing.

  • Parental Investment
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning

Be­hav­ior

There is lit­tle known about the re­la­tion­ships be­tween Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus and other mem­bers of its phy­lum. They are es­sen­tially lone crea­tures that spend the ma­jor­ity of their lives feed­ing. The three-rowed sea cu­cum­ber seems to in­ter­act with other an­i­mals only in ef­forts to pro­tect it­self. (Gos­ner, 1978)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Echin­o­derms in gen­eral have a de­cen­tral­ized ner­vous sys­tem. Holothuri­ans can right them­selves when turned over, sug­gest­ing they have tac­tile and light re­cep­tors. In ad­di­tion, some ev­i­dence sug­gest the buc­cal ten­ta­cles may be chem­i­cally sen­si­tive. (Br­usca and Br­usca, 1990)

Food Habits

Three-rowed sea cu­cum­bers are de­posit-feed­ers, lit­er­ally eat­ing de­posited ma­te­r­ial or sed­i­ments off of the ocean floor. Using its ten­ta­cles, the an­i­mal pushes large scoops of sed­i­ments into its mouth (Bul­lough, 1950).

Be­cause sed­i­ments are typ­i­cally low in con­cen­tra­tion of nu­tri­ents, the sea cu­cum­bers in­gest enor­mous amounts of sed­i­ment per day to en­sure proper nour­ish­ment. It is es­ti­mated that each Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus in­gests be­tween 1 and 2.3 tons of sed­i­ment per year. Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus is a se­lec­tive feeder, es­pe­cially in the pres­ence of a com­pet­ing species such as fish, or when a par­tic­u­lar blend of sed­i­ment is high in or­ganic ma­te­r­ial. Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus prefers and is bet­ter adapted to the finest grain of sed­i­ment; how­ever, the size and amount of sed­i­ments processed de­pends on the size of the in­di­vid­ual (Conde, 1996). (Bul­lough, 1950; Conde, 1996)

Pre­da­tion

Mem­bers of the class Holothuria will de­fend them­selves by cast­ing out most or part of their vis­cera through the cloa­cal open­ing, and in two to three weeks, re­gen­er­ate the lost or­gans. (Gos­ner, 1978)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Three-rowed sea cu­cum­bers in­gest­ing and process food par­ti­cles and dis­charge newly fixed and en­riched mat­ter that has a nu­tri­ent con­tent greater than its sur­round­ing en­vi­ron­ment. Once in­gested, sed­i­ment par­ti­cles stay in­side the an­i­mal about 3 hours to en­sure com­plete ni­tro­gen-fix­a­tion.

This highly ac­tive process of fil­ter­ing and en­rich­ing sed­i­ments is ex­tremely im­por­tant to ma­rine con­di­tions. Re­work­ing mod­i­fies the phys­i­cal and chem­i­cal sta­bil­ity of the ma­rine en­vi­ron­ment by con­tin­u­ally pro­duc­ing "new" ground and caus­ing pulses in bio­di­ver­sity. Through de­stroy­ing both strat­i­fi­ca­tion of sed­i­ment lay­ers and rid­ding its com­mu­nity of in­fes­ta­tions, the Isos­ti­cho­pus ba­diono­tus plays a key role in struc­tur­ing the mic­o­com­mu­ni­ties that exist. (Conde, 1996)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Har­vested sea cu­cum­bers are re­garded as both a tonic and cel­e­bra­tory food in many East Asian cul­tures. (Jenk­ins and Mul­liken, Jan­u­ary 1999)

  • Positive Impacts
  • food

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

This species and the ecosys­tems in which it thrives are threat­ened both by con­t­a­m­i­nated sub­strates, where boats leave be­hind high con­cen­tra­tion of met­als, and by il­le­gal fish­ing and ex­port of the an­i­mals for eat­ing pur­poses. Con­ser­va­tion strate­gies and lim­its on fish­ing are being con­sid­ered. (Bruck­ner, et al., 2003)

Con­trib­u­tors

Renee Sher­man Mul­crone (ed­i­tor).

Celia Rangel (au­thor), South­west­ern Uni­ver­sity, Stephanie Fab­ri­tius (ed­i­tor), South­west­ern Uni­ver­sity.

Glossary

Pacific Ocean

body of water between the southern ocean (above 60 degrees south latitude), Australia, Asia, and the western hemisphere. This is the world's largest ocean, covering about 28% of the world's surface.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

biodegradation

helps break down and decompose dead plants and/or animals

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

coastal

the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.

detritus

particles of organic material from dead and decomposing organisms. Detritus is the result of the activity of decomposers (organisms that decompose organic material).

ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

external fertilization

fertilization takes place outside the female's body

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

filter-feeding

a method of feeding where small food particles are filtered from the surrounding water by various mechanisms. Used mainly by aquatic invertebrates, especially plankton, but also by baleen whales.

food

A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

heterothermic

having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.

intertidal or littoral

the area of shoreline influenced mainly by the tides, between the highest and lowest reaches of the tide. An aquatic habitat.

metamorphosis

A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

radial symmetry

a form of body symmetry in which the parts of an animal are arranged concentrically around a central oral/aboral axis and more than one imaginary plane through this axis results in halves that are mirror-images of each other. Examples are cnidarians (Phylum Cnidaria, jellyfish, anemones, and corals).

saltwater or marine

mainly lives in oceans, seas, or other bodies of salt water.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

visual

uses sight to communicate

Ref­er­ences

Bruck­ner, A., K. John­son, J. Field. 2003. Con­ser­va­tion strate­gies for sea cu­cum­bers: Can a CITES Ap­pen­dix II list­ing pro­mote sus­tain­able in­ter­na­tional trade?. SPC Beche-de-mer in­for­ma­tion bul­letin, 18: 24-33. Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 22, 2004 at http://​www.​spc.​int/​coastfish/​News/​BDM/​18/​Bruckner.​pdf.

Br­usca, R., G. Br­usca. 1990. In­ver­te­brates. Sun­der­land, Mass­a­chu­setts: Sin­auer As­so­ci­ates, Inc..

Bul­lough, W. 1950. Prac­ti­cal In­ver­te­brate Anatomy. Lon­don: MacMil­lan.

Conde, J. 1996. Holo­tu­rios o Pepinos de Mar. Cien­cia Hoje, 20, 117: 36-42.

Gos­ner, K. 1978. A Field Guide to the At­lantic Seashore. Boston: Houghton Mif­flin.

Guz­man, H., C. Gue­vara. 2002. Pop­u­la­tion Struc­ture, Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Abun­dance of Three com­mer­cial species of sea cu­cum­ber (Echin­o­der­mata) in Panama. Caribbean Jour­nal of Sci­ence, 38: 230-238. Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 14, 2004 at http://​caribjsci.​org/​dec02/​38_​230-238.​pdf.

Jenk­ins, M., T. Mul­liken. Jan­u­ary 1999. Evo­lu­tion of Ex­ploita­tion in the Gala­pa­gos Is­lands. Traf­fic Bul­letin, 17, no. 3.