First record of the sea cucumber Parastichopus tremulus (Gunnerus, 1767) (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Aspidochirotida) in the Mediterranean Sea (Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean)

ORDINES Francesc, FERRIOL Pere, MOYA Francina, FARIAS Carlos, RUEDA José L., GARCÍA-RUIZ Cristina, 2019. First record of the sea cucumber Parastichopus tremulus (Gunnerus, 1767) (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Aspidochirotida) in the Mediterranean Sea (Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean). Cah. Biol. Mar. (2019) 60 : 111 - 115. DOI: 10.21411/CBM.A.137C121D.

Abstract: The holothurian Parastichopus tremulus, a species only know from the north-eastern Atlantic, is reported for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea. Five individuals of the species were collected in the vicinity of the Seco de los Olivos sea mount in May 2017 from a bottom trawl sample carried out during the MEDITS trawl survey. Scanning Electron Microscope images of body wall ossicles are supplied to support species identification. Connectivity between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of P. tremulus is suggested due to the existence of a nearby Atlantic population in the Gulf of Cádiz and the documented presence of abundant holothuroid larvae in the anticyclonic gyre which originates in the Atlantic current entering the Mediterranean, near the Strait of Gibraltar.

Keywords: echinoderm, stichopodidae, atlantic inflow, taxonomy, morphological examination