Neopentadactyla mixta is a sea cucumber of up to 20 cm in length. The cylindrical body
is buried in the sand, only its 15 to 30 tentacles emerge. The tentacles are bushy and 10 cm long. They
are used to catch and bring plankton into the mouth, in the middle of the tentacles circle. Tentacles are
slipt into the mouth and licked to collect plankton stuck on them as it is the case with the close sea cucumber
species Aslia lefevrei. The colour is generally yellowish to orange but it may be purple.
It is found from surface to 200 m deep in the Atlantic from Norway to Brittany, in the North Sea and the
English Channel.
Phylum Echinodermata, class Holothuroidea, order Dendrochirotida, family Cucumariidae, Neopentadactyla mixta (Ostergren, 1898).
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Photograph: © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with author's kind permission.
Neopentadactyla mixta, Bay of Concarneau, South-Brittany, West of France. Depth 11 meters.
Text: Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005-2008.
Translation: Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2007-2008.
