A new dendrochirotid sea cucumber from the west coast of South Africa (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Cucumariidae)

Abstract

Five specimens of a small cucumariid holothuroid collected between 18–32 m, from off St. Helena Bay on the west coast  ofWestern Cape Province, South Africa, are new to science and here described. The presence of unequal tentacles, naked interambulacra, smooth prolonged handle of some body wall plates and the form of the tentacle and introvert deposits, in combination, sets the new species strongly apart from its congeners.

Keywords: Holothuroidea, Cucumariidae, new species, Pseudocnus thandari, Dendrochirotida.