Biodiversity & Conservation

Gravel sea cucumber - Neopentadactyla mixta - General information

Neopentadactyla mixta

Image Sue Scott - Feeding tentacles of Neopentadactyla mixta protruding from gravel. Image width ca 25 cm
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Distribution map

Neopentadactyla mixta recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Neopentadactyla mixta is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Angus Jackson Text page icon Refereed by: Dr Andrew C. Campbell

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Echinodermata Starfish, brittlestars, sea urchins & sea cucumbers
Class Holothuroidea Sea cucumbers
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland All up the west coast of Scotland to Orkney and Shetland. A few isolated records from the east coast. Also from SW England, SW and NW Wales. In Ireland, particularly Kilkieran Bay, round the north and north-east, also the SE and SW corners.
Habitat information icon Habitat information The gravel sea cucumber lives within coarse, typically mobile shell sand, gravel or maerl where water flow is quite strong.
Text page icon Description Neopentadactyla mixta is a cylindrical sea cucumber up to about 20 cm long and creamy yellow in colour. The body tapers towards either end and there are a bunch of profusely branching tentacles around the mouth. The tentacles are usually light grey but may be darker, appearing almost transparent when fully extended. The gravel sea cucumber lives within the substratum so the only parts visible are the tentacles, when extended.

This review can be cited as follows:

Angus Jackson 2008. Neopentadactyla mixta. Gravel sea cucumber. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 20/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3887>