Scotothuria Hansen, 1978

Mackenzie, Melanie, Davey, Niki, Burghardt, Ingo & Haines, Margaret L., 2024, A report of sea cucumbers collected on the first dedicated deep-sea biological survey of Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories around Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea), Memoirs of Museum Victoria (Mem. Mus. Vic.) 83, pp. 207-316 : 285

Genus Scotothuria Hansen, 1978

Diagnosis. (following Hansen, 1978). “ Synallactidae with dendritic tentacles and with body surrounded by a continuous brim of partly fused podia. Calcareous deposits cross-shaped with arms ending in a cluster of spines and with a central apophysis ending in a hood of downward-bent hooks; spines otherwise arranged in regularly spaced rings along the length of the arms and the apophysis.”

Remarks. Monotypic genus represented by Scotothuria herringi , previously reported from the Atlantic Ocean and from the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya. Benthopelagic species typically found swimming above the seafloor by undulating their ventrolateral brim ( Gebruk et al., 2014). Some specimens also found to carry parasitic nematodes in their coelom (Billet et al., 1985). Two lots of S. herringi were recorded from two stations on the IOT voyages at depths of 3431–5414 m, representing the first records for the genus and species in Australian waters. Prior to these voyages there was only one record of this species being collected by benthic trawl, being most commonly collected in pelagic trawls from 20 to 3900 m above the seafloor ( Gebruk et al., 2014).