Abstract
An undescribed species of Synallactes was collected during a deep-water benthic fauna survey off the Pacific coast of Mexico in the East Pacific, with the R/V El Puma. This new species differs from all the other known Synallactes by the presence of huge massive rods in the tube feet, some of them club-shaped. The later ossicle shape is unique among Holothuroidea. This is the first record of a Synallactes in the Gulf of California.
Highlights
The deep-water Holothuroidea of the East Pacific have been studied mainly by Ludwig (1893, 1894) and H.L. Clark (1913, 1920, 1923)
S. ishikawa has been collected along the Mexican West coast (Parker, 1964), whereas no Synallactes are mentioned in the Gulf of California (Maluf and Brusca, 2005)
Including a new species recently described for southern Africa (Thandar, 2008), 24 species of the genus Synallactes are recognized as valid
Summary
The deep-water Holothuroidea of the East Pacific have been studied mainly by Ludwig (1893, 1894) and H.L. Clark (1913, 1920, 1923). Both lists, based exclusively on records verified in Maria Elena Caso Muñoz’s collections (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico D.F.) and in the Smithsonian Institution collections (Washington D.C.), include 55 species of Holothuroidea, but no species of Synallactes. During a deep-water benthic fauna survey off the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the East Pacific, material belonging to the genus Synallactes was dredged at 1030 m depth in the SW Gulf of California and is the object of the present paper.
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