Psychropotes

Psychropotes is a genus of sea cucumbers in the family Psychropotidae. The members of this genus possess the ability to swim, although this is only facultative.

Psychropotes
Psychropotes sp.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Holothuroidea
Order:	Elasipodida
Family:	Psychropotidae
Genus:	Psychropotes Théel, 1882[1]
Synonyms
Euphronides Théel, 1882 Nectothuria Belyaev & Vinogradov, 1969 Triconus Hérouard, 1909

Description

As adults, species of Psychropotes are roughly cylindrical in shape and red to violet in colour. They have a sail-like appendage which can be used for swimming during the larval stage, but is no longer needed when it is fully grown. Larvae of Psychropotes species are benthopelagic and swim around using the aforementioned appendage, however researchers are still trying to understand its use when the holothurian is fully grown. Larvae are transparent and can grow to around 2 cm long.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Psychropotes:^[2]

• Psychropotes belyaevi Hansen, 1975
• Psychropotes depressa (Théel, 1882)
• Psychropotes dubiosa Ludwig, 1893
• Psychropotes dyscrita (Clark, 1920)
• Psychropotes fuscopurpurea Théel, 1882
• Psychropotes hyalinus Pawson, 1985
• Psychropotes longicauda Théel, 1882
• Psychropotes loveni Théel, 1882
• Psychropotes minuta (Koehler & Vaney, 1905)
• Psychropotes mirabilis Hansen, 1975
• Psychropotes monstrosa Théel, 1882
• Psychropotes moskalevi Gebruk & Kremenetskaia in Gebruk et al., 2020
• Psychropotes pawsoni Gebruk & Kremenetskaia in Gebruk et al., 2020
• Psychropotes raripes Ludwig, 1893
• Psychropotes scotiae (Vaney, 1908)
• Psychropotes semperiana Théel, 1882
• Psychropotes verrucicaudatus Xiao, Gong, Kou & Li, 2019
• Psychropotes verrucosa (Ludwig, 1894)
• Psychropotes xenochromata Rogacheva & Billett, 2009