| Diagnosis |
Maximum width: 15 cm (Ref. 418). Mean live wt. 1700 up to 4000 g; body-thickness 0.12 cm. Body: sub oval, stout, firm and rigid, arched dorsally (bivium), and flattened ventrally (trivium). Bivium with characteristic large lateral papillae (teats) and often covered by sand. Bivium with small papillae as well as posia ending in a disc around 0.022 cm in diameter; podia on trivium stout, arranged irregularly, their calcareous disc around 0.07 cm in diameter. Mouth ventral, surrounded by 2 rows of black papillae and 20 grey, stout tentacles. Anus surrounded by short papillae and 5 stout calcareous teeth. Calcareous ring with large wing0shaped radial pieces and narrow sharp interradials (slightly different from Holothuria fuscogilva). Cuverian tubules present, but never expelled. Color: less variable than in Holothuria fuscogilva; bivium dark brown to black; trivium lighter, generally grayish. Spicules: in form of tables and buttons; only one kind of tables in the dorsal and ventral tegument; tables with undulated, circular disc with 12 to 16 holes, supporting a massive spire with 4 pillars and a cross bridge, ending in a large, spiny crown; ventral-tegument buttons in form of fenestrated ellipsoids; dorsal-tegument buttons shorter, larger, and less fenestrated; ventral podia with numerous spiny rods and large multiperforated plates; tentacles with spiny rods, large plates, small plates, and pseudo-plates (Ref. 122). |
