Holothuroidea

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number being in the Asia–Pacific region. Sea cucumbers serve a useful role in the marine ecosystem as detritivores who help recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus and other organic matter, after which microbes can continue the decomposition process.

Holothuroidea

Diego Delso / Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
sea cucumberPBDB
Sits inside
EchinozoaPBDB
Diet
detritivorePBDB
Life habit
shallow infaunalPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB
Vision
blindPBDB
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 505 million years on record.

The record covers at least 505.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 509.7 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Cambrian — about 1 of 1514 occurrencesOrdovician — about 12 of 1514 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 4 of 1514 occurrencesDevonian — about 105 of 1514 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 181 of 1514 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 62 of 1514 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 3 of 1514 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 164 of 1514 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 307 of 1514 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 155 of 1514 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 219 of 1514 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 137 of 1514 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 8 of 1514 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 53 of 1514 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 1514 occurrencesEocene — about 28 of 1514 occurrencesOligocene — about 26 of 1514 occurrencesMiocene — about 39 of 1514 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 1514 occurrencesPleistocene — about 9 of 1514 occurrences520–503 Mya — about 1 occurrence468–451 Mya — about 9 occurrences451–433 Mya — about 4 occurrences433–416 Mya — about 4 occurrences416–399 Mya — about 13 occurrences399–381 Mya — about 72 occurrences381–364 Mya — about 19 occurrences364–347 Mya — about 54 occurrences347–329 Mya — about 30 occurrences329–312 Mya — about 16 occurrences312–295 Mya — about 88 occurrences295–277 Mya — about 3 occurrences277–260 Mya — about 27 occurrences260–243 Mya — about 117 occurrences243–225 Mya — about 185 occurrences225–208 Mya — about 123 occurrences208–191 Mya — about 207 occurrences191–173 Mya — about 24 occurrences173–156 Mya — about 320 occurrences156–139 Mya — about 36 occurrences139–121 Mya — about 2 occurrences121–104 Mya — about 4 occurrences104–87 Mya — about 28 occurrences87–69 Mya — about 14 occurrences69–52 Mya — about 15 occurrences52–35 Mya — about 27 occurrences35–17 Mya — about 37 occurrences17–0 Mya — about 37 occurrences505.3 Mya129 ka520 Mya0 Mya

1,514 occurrences of Holothuroidea on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,514 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

102 formations

Scheibelberg — 47.62°N, 12.58°EHallstätterkalk — 48.53°N, 20.47°ESan Cassiano — 46.53°N, 11.42°EHallstatt — 47.66°N, 13.70°EHallstatt — 47.90°N, 16.10°EHallstatt — 47.56°N, 13.63°EGraham — 32.38°N, 98.77°WGraham — 33.17°N, 98.16°WGraham — 33.24°N, 98.12°WHazelbury Bryan — 50.01°N, 2.29°WBlue Lias — 51.40°N, 2.45°WBlue Lias — 51.89°N, 2.27°WBlue Lias — 52.29°N, 1.39°WFurkaska — 49.27°N, 19.81°EWhite Chalk — 54.52°N, 13.63°EKaradagtepe — 41.91°N, 33.72°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.37°EKowala — 50.88°N, 20.57°EKowala — 50.83°N, 20.69°EKowala — 50.82°N, 20.58°EKowala — 50.80°N, 20.47°EJulfa — 38.94°N, 45.58°EGrzegorzowice — 50.88°N, 21.03°EWewoka — 35.04°N, 96.36°WBell Canyon — 31.88°N, 104.80°WShueib — 32.12°N, 35.85°EBuchenstein — 46.88°N, 17.60°EKorytnica Limestones — 48.94°N, 19.26°EHallstätt — 48.52°N, 20.48°EBreathitt — 37.63°N, 82.64°WSeptarienton — 52.79°N, 14.00°ESeptarienton — 54.08°N, 9.78°EFüred — 46.88°N, 17.60°EChouteau limestone — 38.85°N, 92.45°WHallstätterkalk — 47.63°N, 12.98°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Holothuroidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 78 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 667 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Holothuroidea and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Holothuroidea and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

2,048 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 395 sites for Holothuroidea, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

133 references

Each of the 1,514 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 121 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Holothuroidea

Credit
Diego Delso / Diego Delso
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEchinozoa through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (de Blainville 1834)