Abstract
The tentacles of deep-sea holothurians show a wide range of morphological diversity. The present paper examines gross tentacle morphology in surface deposit feeding holothurians from a range of bathymetric depths. Species studied included the elasipods: Oneirophanta mutabilis, Psychropotes longicauda and Benthogone rosea and the aspidochirotids: Paroriza prouhoi, Pseudostichopus sp., Bathyplotes natans and Paroriza pallens. The sympatric abyssal species Oneirophanta mutabilis, Psychropotes longicauda and Pseudostichopus sp. show subtle differences in diet and the structure and filling patterns of the gut that suggest differences in feeding strategies which may represent one mechanism to overcome competition for food resources in an environment where nutrient resources are considered to be, at least periodically, limiting. Interspecific differences in tentacle functional morphology and digestive strategies, which reflects taxonomic diversity could be explained in terms of Sanders'; Stability–Time Hypothesis. Since different tentacle types will turn over sediments to different extents, their impact on sedimentary communities will be enormous so that high diversity in meiofaunal communities may be explained most simply by Dayton and Hessler's Biological Disturbance Hypothesis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bakus, G.J. (1973) The biology and ecology of tropical holothurians. In Biology and geology of coral reefs, II, Biology. (O.A. Jones and R. Endean, eds) pp. 325–67. New York: Academic Press.
Billett, D.S.M. (1991). Deep-sea holothurians. Oceanog. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev. 29, 259–317.
Billett, D.S.M. and Hansen, B. (1982) Abyssal aggregations of Kolga hyalina Danielssen and Koren (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Res. 29, 799–818.
Billett, D.S.M., Llewellyn, C. and Watson, J. (1988) Are deep-sea holothurians selective feeders? In Echinoderm Biology. (Burke et al., eds) pp. 421–429. A.A. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Bouland, C., Massin, C. and Jangoux, M. (1982) The fine structure of the bucal tentacles of Holothuria forskali (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea). Zoomorphol. 101, 133–49.
Briggs, K.B. (1985) Deposit feeding by some deep-sea megabenthos from the Venezuela Basin: selective or non-selective. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 21, 127–34.
Brumbaugh, J.H. (1965) The anatomy, diet and tentacular feeding mechanism of the dendrochirote holothurian Cucumaria curata Cowles 1907. PhD Dissertation, Stanford University, 119 pp.
Cameron, J.L. and Fankboner, P.V. (1984) Tentacle structure and feeding processes in life stages of the commercial sea cucumber Parastichopus californicus (Stimpson). J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 81, 193–209.
Cammen, L.M. (1982) Effect of particle size on organic content and microbial abundance within four marine sediments. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 9, 273–80.
Costelloe, J. and Keegan, B.F. (1984) Feeding and related morphological structures in the dendrochirote Aslia lefevrei (Holothuroidea: Echinodermata). Mar. Biol. 84, 135–42.
Dayton, P.K. and Hessler, R.R. (1972) Role of biological disturbance in maintaining diversity in the deep sea. Deep-Sea Res. 19, 199–208.
Fankboner, P.V. (1978) Suspension-feeding mechanisms of the armoured sea cucumber Psolus chitinoides Clark. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 31, 11–25.
Fankboner, P.V. (1981) A re-examination of mucous feeding by the sea cucumber Leptopentacta (= Cucumaria) elongata. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. UK. 61, 679–83.
Fenchel, T., Kofoed, L.H. and Lappalainen, A. (1975) Particle-size selection of two deposit feeders: the amphipod Corophium volutator and the Prosobranch Hydrobia ulvae. Mar. Biol. 30, 119–28.
Grassle, J.F. and Sanders, H.L. (1973) Life histories and the role of disturbance. Deep-Sea Res. 20, 643–59.
Hammond, L.S. (1982) Analysis of grain size selection by deposit-feeding holothurians and echinoids (Echinodermata) from a shallow reef lagoon, Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 8, 25–36.
Hansen, B. (1975) Systematics and biology of the deep-sea holothurians. Galathea Report 13, 1–262.
Hauksson, E. (1979) Feeding biology of Stichopus tremulus, a deposit-feeding holothurian. Sarsia 64, 155–60.
Higgins, R. and Thiel, H. (1988) Introduction to the study of Meiofauna. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press.
Hobbie, J. and Lee, C. (1980) Microbial production of extracellular material: Importance in benthic ecology. In Marine Benthic Dynamics (K.R. Tenore and B.C. Coull, eds) pp. 341–346. Columbia: USC Press.
Huston, M. (1979) A general hypothesis of species diversity. Am. Nat. 113, 81–101.
Hylleberg, J. (1975) Selective feeding by Abarenicola pacifica with notes on Abarenicola vagabunda and a concept of gardening in lugworms. Ophelia 14, 113–37.
Jumars, P.A. (1975) Methods for measurement of community structure in deep-sea macrobenthos. Mar. Biol. 30, 245–52.
Jumars, P.A. (1976) Deep-sea species diversity; does it have a characteristic scale? J. Mar. Res. 34, 253–66.
Jumars, P.A. and Gallagher, E.D. (1982). Deep-sea community structure; three plays on the benthic proscenium. In The Environment of the Deep-Sea. (W.G. Ernst, and J.G. Morin, eds) pp. 217–255. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Jumars, P.A., Self, R.F.L, and Nowell, A.R.M. (1982) Mechanics of particle selection by tentacular deposit feeders. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 64, 47–70.
Khripounoff, A. and Sibuet, M. (1980) La nutrition d'échinodermes abyssaux. I. Alimentation des holothuries. Mar. Biol. 60, 17–26.
Klinger, T.S., Johnson, C.R. and Jell, J. (1994) Sediment utilization, feeding-niche breadth and feeding-niche overlap of Aspidochirotida (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. In Echinoderms Through Time. (B. David, A. Guille, J-P. Féral and M. Roux, eds) pp. 523–528. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Krebs, C.J. (1989) Ecological Methodology. New York: Harper and Rowe publishers.
Lawrence, J.M. (1980) Numbers and biomass of the common holothuroids on the windward reef flat at Enewetak atoll, Marshall Islands. In Echinoderms Present and Past. (M. Jangoux, ed.) pp. 201–204. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Lopez, G.R. and Levinton, J.S. (1987) Ecology of deposit feeding animals in marine sediments. Quart. Rev. Biol. 62, 235–60.
Massin, C. (1982). Food and feeding mechanisms: Holothuroidea. In Echinoderm Nutrition. (M. Jangoux and J.M. Lawrence, eds) pp. 43–55. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Moore, H. and Roberts, D. (1994) Feeding strategies in abyssal holothurians. In Echinoderms through time. (B. David, A. Guille, J-P. Féral and M. Roux, eds) pp. 531–537. Balkema: Rotterdam.
Moore, H., Manship, B. and Roberts, D. (1995) Gut structure and digestive strategies in three species of abyssal holothurians. In Echinoderm Research (Emson, Smith and Campbell, eds) pp. 111–119. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Ohta, S. (1983) Photographic census of large-sized benthic organisms in the bathyal zone of Suruga Bay, central Japan. Bull. Ocean Res. Inst. University of Tokyo 15, 244.
Pfannkuche, O. (1985) The deep-sea meiofauna of the Porcupine Sea bight and abyssal plain (N.E Atlantic): population structure, distribution, standing stocks. Oceanologica Acta. 8, 343–53.
Rex, M.A. (1976) Biological accommodation in the deep-sea benthos: comparative evidence on the importance of predation and productivity. Deep-Sea Res. 23, 975–87.
Rex, M.A. (1983) Geographic patterns of species diversity in the deep-sea benthos. In The Sea. 8, (G.T. Rowe, ed.) pp. 453–72.
Rice, A.L., Aldred, R.G., Darlington, E. and Wild, R.A. (1982) The quantitative estimation of the deep-sea megabenthos a new approach to an old problem. Oceanologica Acta 5, 63–72.
Rice, A.L., Billett, D.S.M., Thurston, M.H. and Lampitt, R.S. (1991) The Institute of Oceanographic Sciences biology programme in the Porcupine Seabight: background and general introduction. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. UK 71, 281–310.
Roberts, D. (1979) Deposit-feeding mechanisms and resource partitioning in tropical holothurians. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 37, 45–56.
Roberts, D. (1982) Classification and the holothurian tentacle. In Echinoderms (J.M. Lawrence, ed.) pp. 117–121. Tampa Bay, Balkema: Rotterdam.
Roberts, D. and Bryce, C. (1982) Further observations on tentacular feeding mechanisms in holothurians. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 59, 151–63.
Roberts, D., Moore, H., Manship, B., Wolff, G., Santos, V., Horsfall, I., Patching, J. and Eardly, D. (1996) Feeding strategies and impact of holothurians in the deep sea. In Proceedings of Irish Marine Science 1995. (B.F. Keegan and R. O'Connor, eds) Galway: Galway University Press.
Sanders, H.L. (1968) Marine benthic diversity: a comparative study. Am. Nat. 102, 243–82.
Santos, V., Billett, D.S.M., Rice, A.L. and Wolff, G.A. (1994) Organic matter in deep-sea sediments from the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the North-East Atlantic Ocean. I. Lipids. Deep-Sea Res. 41, 787–819.
Sibuet, M. (1984) Les invertebres detritivores dans l'ecosysteme abyssal. Selection de la nourriture et regime alimentaire chez les holothuries. Oceanis 10, 623–39.
Sibuet, M. (1985) Quantitative distribution of echinoderms (Holothuroidea. Asteroidea. Ophiuroidea. Echinoidea) in relation to organic matter in the sediment, in deep-sea basins of the Atlantic Ocean. In Echinodermata. (B.F. Keegan, and B.D.S. O'Connor, eds) pp. 99–103. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Sibuet, M. Khripounoff, A., Deming, J., Colwell, R. and Dinet, A. (1982) Modification of the gut contents in the digestive tract of abyssal holothurians. In Echinoderms. (J.M. Lawrence, ed.) pp. 421–8. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Sloan, N.A. and von Bodungen, B. (1980) Distribution and feeding of the sea cucumber Isostichopus badionotus in relation to shelter and sediment criteria of the Bermuda Platform. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 2, 257–64.
Smith, T.B. (1983) Tentacular ultrastructure and feeding behaviour of Neopentadactyla mixta (Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida). J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. UK. 63, 301–11.
Sokolova, M.N. (1958) The food of the deep-water benthic invertebrate detritophages. Tr. Inst. Okeanol. 27, 123–53.
Taghon, G.L. (1982) Optimal foraging by deposit-feeding invertebrates: roles of particle size and organic coating. Oecologia (Berlin) 52, 295–304.
Taghon, G.L. (1989) Modeling deposit feeding. In Ecology of Marine Deposit Feeders. G. Lopez, G. Taghon, and J. Levinton, eds) pp 223–246. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Taghon, G.L., Greene, R.R. and Bard, D. (1990) Effects of food value of artificial and natural sediments on functional response and net rate of energy gain by a deposit-feeding. In Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection (R.N. Hughes, ed.) Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Théel, Hj. (1882) Report on the Holothurioidea, I. Rep. Scient. Results Voyage Challenger, Zool. 4, 13, 1–176.
Théel, Hj. (1886) Report on the Holothurioidea, II. Rep. Scient. Results Voyage Challenger, Zool. 14, 39, 1–290.
Thiel, H., Pfannkuche, O., Schriever, G., Lochte, K., Gooday, A.J., Hemleben, C., Mantoura, R.F.C., Turley, C.M., Patching, J.H. and Riemann, F. (1990) Phytodetritus on the deep-sea floor in a central oceanic region of the northeast Atlantic. Biol. Oceanog. 6, 203–39.
Uthicke, S. (1994) Distribution patterns and growth of two reef flat holothurians, Holothuria atra and Stichopus chloronotus. In Echinoderms Through Time. (B. David, A. Guille, J-P. Féral and M. Roux, eds) pp. 569–76 Rotterdam: Balkema.
Yingst, J.Y. (1982) Factors influencing rates of sediment ingestion by Parastichopus parvimensis (Clark), an epibenthic deposit-feeding holothurian. Estuarine, Coastal Shelf Sci. 14, 119–34.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roberts, D., Moore, H.M. Tentacular diversity in deep-sea deposit-feeding holothurians: implications for biodiversity in the deep sea. Biodiversity and Conservation 6, 1487–1505 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018362319053
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018362319053