Rowedota allani (Joshua, 1912), Sea Cucumber

General Description

Long, soft, worm-like, with thin body wall; carmine-red to deep purple when alive, not flecked, white when preserved; 10 digitate tentacles with 8 (4 pairs of) digits distally; no tube feet; body wall ossicles 6-spoked wheels with non-continuous teeth, S-shaped hooks with minute spinelets, and rods; up to 8cms long and 6mm wide.

Biology

Rowedota allani is a soft, thin, worm-like sea cucumber, carmine-red to dark purple in colour and completely lacking any tube feet. The thin, often transparent body wall is thought to facilitate gas exchange as these sea cucumbers don't have the complex respiratory trees found in other groups. Rowedota allani has separate sexes and is a benthic deposit feeder and detritivore, using its hand-like tentacles to feed on dead organic matter which has settled on the seafloor. While its range was originally thought to extend to southern Tasmania and South Australia, examples were found to be from two distinct species, and the true specimens of Rowedota allani have actually only been found in the deep sediments of Port Phillip Bay where the species is abundant, and Bass Strait.

Distribution

South-eastern Australia. Confirmed only for the deep sediments of Port Phillip Bay and Bass Strait, Victoria, Australia.

Habitat

Sediments in deep water, at least 2 m. Predominantly in deep sublittoral sediments.