A team of marine biologists has announced the discovery of a new species of animal with over 200 legs found in the deep sea of Alaska Bay.
The researchers include Francisco A Solís Marín, Andrea A Caballero Ochoa, and Carlos A Conejeros-Vargas, all professors at the Institute of Marine Science and Limnology in Mexico.
Sea cucumber Synallactes mcdanieli. (Photo: BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL).
In a report published in the journal Biodiversity Data, the team of professors describes a type of sea cucumber living on the deep sea floor, with a light pinkish-purple body covered in 214 cross-patterned legs.
Professor Conejeros-Vargas and his team named the new species after Canadian naturalist Neil McDaniel, an expert in researching various marine organisms, including sea cucumbers.
Therefore, the newly discovered sea cucumber is scientifically named Synallactes mcdanieli, also known as McDaniel’s Sea Cucumber.
Like other sea cucumbers, McDaniel’s Sea Cucumber is dedicated to the task of cleaning the ocean floor. They can be found at depths ranging from 21 to 427 meters in Alaska Bay.
McDaniel’s Sea Cucumber uses its hundreds of legs to navigate the ocean floor and employs its tentacles to capture various sediments for food.
According to Arnold Rakaj, a marine biologist from the University of Rome (Italy), sea cucumbers have an omnivorous diet that includes fish waste, seaweed, and other organic materials found on the ocean floor.
They are known as the diligent laborers of the oceans, tasked with cleaning up waste in the deep sea.
