January-April, 2013 
SCAMIT Newsletter 
Vol. 31 Nos. 5-6 
Southern California Bight (SCB). Third, one needs to plaee high value on the predominant style 
of ossieles, although not to the exelusivity of the other forms present. The two best referenees 
inelude Philip Lambert’s Sea Cumber book Sea Cucumbers of British Columbia, Southeast 
Alaska and Puget Sound (1997) and his 1998 paper deseribing P. rigida and P. pediparva from 
the west eoast of North Ameriea whieh elueidates problems with the MMS Atlas illustrations. 
Megan then began diseussing various issues eoneeming the identifieation of holothuroids based 
upon her experienee from the City of San Diego (CSD) sampling program, as well as past 
Regional Bight programs. She had prepared a talk showing examples of the speeies diseussed 
below. 
Pentamerapopulifera has supporting tables with medium spires (i.e., not short!) and multiple 
teeth, along with eross bars near their top. Speeimens from our area are typieally white with a 
eaudus (tail). The body is typieally plump in middle with numerous tube feet giving the animal 
the appearanee of having a “mohawk.” 
P. rigida (=Pentamera sp A “probably undeseribed speeies” in Lambert 1997) has a more 
generally streamlined body form, with a long eaudus, and a relatively short, indistinet mohawk 
of tube feet. The more rigid body, relative to P populifera, is due to the more dense ossieles. The 
body wall tables are irregular, round or star-shaped and there ean be some lozenge-shaped plates 
present as well (but the predominant type will be irregular tables) with supporting tables that 
have small/short spires with multiple teeth. P. rigida is found in CSD’s South Bay Oeean Outfall 
samples among fine sands. 
P. lissoplaca has little to no tail, beige pigment (not white), and some speekling, with long tube 
feet all over, giving the animal a “fiirry” appearanee. The body is soft, not strong or rigid with 
ossieles. It is typieally found among eoarse sand, but has also been found in fine sand. Lozenge¬ 
shaped plates (i.e., without spire) predominate, and irregular body wall tables are also present. 
The supporting tables are not too distinetive, and have fewer teeth than in P. populifera, although 
the spire is of good size. 
P. pseudopopulifera, the dark almost ehoeolate-eolored holothurian, whose eolor intensifies 
with age was also diseussed. Megan had not prepared a slide on P. pseudopopulifera as she was 
foeusing only on those speeies she thought might give taxonomists some diffieulty; however, she 
warned that small juveniles will only be lightly pigmented. It has a predominanee of round to 
irregular body wall tables and the supporting tables have tall spires with large, symmetrieal teeth. 
Pentamera pseudocalcigera was diseussed next. The tube feet of P. pseudocalcigera are different 
from other Pentamera speeies in being eonieal rather than eylindrieal. In addition the body wall 
ossieles are distinetive irregular or triangular plates, and the supporting tables have large eomplex 
spires that eause the tube feet to have a “hairy” appearanee as these spires aetually stiek out 
through the skin. The body tapers towards the posterior and is stiff as a result of the density and 
style of the ossieles. 
Megan then diseussed Pentamera sp C of Haney, a deep water speeies from 300m, and its 
similarities and differenees from P. pseudocalcigera. R sp C has similar body wall plates, but 
differenees in the supporting tables as well as over-all gestalt distinguish the two taxa. Although 
there was some diseussion on the validity of P. sp C, it was deeided that for the time being it 
should still be eonsidered a distinet speeies and identified as sueh during Bight’ 13. The voueher 
sheet for R sp C is available on the SCAMIT website in the Tools Seetion. 
Publication Date: 28 July 2016 
