Size

Maximum length: reaching 30cm (12")

Recognition Characters

Large, cylindrical form. Body wall is thick. Podia are numerous and scattered over the entire body, dorsally as papillae and ventrally as cylindrical tube feet. Ossicles are abundant consisting of tables and knobbed buttons. No curvierian organs. Body wall ossicles are irregular tables with undulate to dentate margin, disc with 4 large central perforations and variable number of smaller marginal perforations, spire is short, terminating in few to several short teeth. Podia ossicles are large, characteristic of tact-like tables with an enormous spire.

Color

Brown and white with light ring around base of the most dorsal papillae.

Habitat & Depth

Soft sediments, bottoms, and reefs. To 54m.

Distribution at GRNMS

Can be partially buried in sediment or completely exposed moving across reef.

Geographic Range

Florida, parts of Caribbean south to Venezuela, Gulf of Mexico west to the Yucatan, Bahamas. Georgia may be northern extent of its range

Behavior & Notes

Synonyms

References