Dendrochirotida Grube, 1840

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 : 209

Order Dendrochirotida Grube, 1840

Diagnosis. (see Grube, 1840)

Remarks. Dendrochirotida are suspension-feeding sea cucumbers found worldwide, more common in shallower waters though extending to abyssal depths. Some species burrow in soft sediments; others attach to hard surfaces and extend their branched tentacles into the water column to feed. This order comprises 11 currently accepted families, five of which are represented in Australia: Cucumariidae , Phyllophoridae , Psolidae , Sclerodactylidae and Ypsilothuriidae , with others found in Australian Antarctic waters. While it was anticipated that the shallower depths of Muirfield Seamount would provide more suitable bathymetric range for this order, surprisingly only one deep-sea species from one family was represented in the IOT material.