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| Domain |
Eukarya |
| Kingdom |
Animalia |
| Phylum |
Echinodermata |
| Sub-Phylum |
Eleutherozoa |
| Class |
Holothuroidea |
| Subclass |
Dendrochirotacea |
| Order |
Dendrochirotida |
| Family |
Cucumariidae |
| Genus |
Pseudocnus |
| Species |
curatus, (Lambert,1997?) |
| Common Name: |
Black brooding sea cucumber |
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This species iis distinguished from Cucumaria pseudocurata which lives up in the mussel beds by having 10 tentacles instead of 8. It is s found in great abundance on the surface of boulders at a depth of 10 meters 60 meters offshore of the south west tip of Great Race Rock ( peg7) Counts of up to 1000 per square meter have been estimated. It can also be found intertidally among the mussel beds on the Western side of the main island.
The following count done by students of the diving activity gives an idea of how dense this species is in one location at Race Rocks. Recently Ryan Murphy found another population of this density on the East sdie of Great Race Rock.
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 The book Sea Cucumbers of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound by Phil Lambert is the best source for identification of most of the 45 species of local sea cucumbers. In it he notes thatthe habitat of Pseudocnus curatus "in the Juan de Fuca Strait tends to be shallow subtidal in areas where the tidal currents are strong..... They nestle together in large aggregations on open rocky surfaces .....and..... are eaten by many species of sea stars......although their body wall is toxic to some fish predators providing a strong defense mechanism."
See also Taxing Problems by Philip Lambert - Now Curator Emeritus of Invertebrates, Royal BC Museum for a description of the difficulty in classification and the need to classify by the skin ossicles.
Google Pseudocnus curatus for a link to the page describing this species..
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This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, faculty, staff and volunteers of
Lester B. Pearson College |
April 2010
Garry Fletcher
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