{{Short description|Genus of sea cucumbers}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Benthodytes sanguinolenta. Specimen NHM 216.jpg | image_caption = ''Benthodytes sanguinolenta''<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Glover | first1=Adrian | last2=Wiklund | first2=Helena | last3=Rabone | first3=Muriel | last4=Amon | first4=Diva | last5=Smith | first5=Craig | last6=O'Hara | first6=Tim | last7=Mah | first7=Christopher | last8=Dahlgren | first8=Thomas | title=Abyssal fauna of the UK-1 polymetallic nodule exploration claim, Clarion-Clipperton Zone, central Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata | journal=Biodiversity Data Journal | date=2016 | volume=4 | article-number=e7251 | doi=10.3897/BDJ.4.e7251 | doi-access=free | pmid=26929713 | pmc=4759440 }}</ref> | taxon = Benthodytes | authority = Théel, 1882<ref>Théel, H. (1882). Report on the Holothuroidea dredged by H.M.S. 'Challenger' during the years 1873-76. Part i. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–1876. Zoology. 4 (part 13): i-ix, 1-176, pl. 1-46., available online at http://19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/Zool-13/htm/doc.html</ref> }}
'''''Benthodytes''''' is a genus of sea cucumbers in the family Psychropotidae.<ref>{{Cite WoRMS| title = Benthodytes|id=123529|url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=123529}}</ref>
==Discovery== This group of sea cucumbers was first described by scientists aboard the H.M.S. Challenger during its 1873-1876 voyage.<ref name=":2">Théel, H. (1882). Report on the Holothuroidea dredged by H.M.S. 'Challenger' during the years 1873-76. Part i. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–1876. Zoology. 4 (part 13): i-ix, 1-176, pl. 1-46., available online at http://19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/Zool-13/htm/doc.htm</ref> Théel described the genus: "Body more or less depressed, with the anterior part of its brim rather large. Mouth ventral, at a greater distance from the foremost extremity of the body. Anus posterior, dorsal, usually almost terminal. Tentacles (?) twelve to twenty. Pedicels arranged in a single row round the brim of the body and in a double one along the odd ambulacrum. The dorsal surface seldom naked, commonly with a greater or smaller number of retractile or non-retractile, more or less inconsiderable processes, arranged in a single row all along each ambulacrum or in an irregular double row, or scattered over the lateral interambulacrae."<ref name=":2" /> Théel also documented the details of species ''B. typica, B. sanguinolenta'', and ''B. abyssicola''.<ref name=":2" />
==Anatomy== Among Psychropotidae, Benthodytes (synonym Benthodites) are characterized by "soft retractile tentacles, circum-oral or post-oral papillae and the absence of an unpaired dorsal appendage."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Benthodytes Théel, 1882|url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=123529#links|access-date=2020-10-23|website=www.marinespecies.org}}</ref>
==Significance== Several species of Benthodytes are good indicators of the potential impacts of deep-sea mining and have been the subject of multiple studies.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Rodrigues|first1=Nimi|last2=Sharma|first2=Rahul|last3=Nagender Nath|first3=B|date=2001-01-01|title=Impact of benthic disturbance on megafauna in Central Indian Basin|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967064501000492|journal=Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography|series=Indian Deep-sea Environment Experiment (INDEX)|language=en|volume=48|issue=16|pages=3411–3426|doi=10.1016/S0967-0645(01)00049-2|bibcode=2001DSRII..48.3411R|issn=0967-0645|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Amon | first1=Diva | last2=Ziegler | first2=Amanda | last3=Kremenetskaia | first3=Antonina | last4=Mah | first4=Christopher | last5=Mooi | first5=Rich | last6=O'Hara | first6=Tim | last7=Pawson | first7=David | last8=Roux | first8=Michel | last9=Smith | first9=Craig | title=Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata | journal=Biodiversity Data Journal | date=2017 | volume=5 | article-number=e11794 | doi=10.3897/BDJ.5.e11794 | doi-access=free | pmc=5515089 }}</ref> Identification of distinct species is most often based on photography, since the delicate anatomy of the sea cucumbers is often damaged in the process of sampling.<ref name=":1" /> Genome sequencing technology is paving the way for more accurate accounts of the evolution and taxonomy of Benthodytes species, starting with ''B. rosea'' and ''B. typica''.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Bisol | first1=PM | last2=Costa | first2=R. | last3=Sibuet | first3=M. | title=Ecological and genetical survey on two deep-sea holothurians: Benthogone rosea and Benthodytes typical | journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series | date=1984 | volume=15 | pages=275–281 | doi=10.3354/meps015275 | bibcode=1984MEPS...15..275B }}</ref> Additionally, the mitochondrial genome of ''B. marianensis'' has been sequenced and was found to contain a novel gene arrangement among holothurians that could be an adaptation allowing for survival at great depths.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mu|first1=Wendan|last2=Liu|first2=Jun|last3=Zhang|first3=Haibin|date=2018-11-30|editor-last=Ruggeri|editor-first=Paolo|title=Complete mitochondrial genome of Benthodytes marianensis (Holothuroidea: Elasipodida: Psychropotidae): Insight into deep sea adaptation in the sea cucumber|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=13|issue=11|article-number=e0208051|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0208051|issn=1932-6203|pmc=6267960|pmid=30500836|bibcode=2018PLoSO..1308051M|doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Species== Several species included in the genus ''Benthodytes'' have been reclassified using different nomenclature.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Benthodytes Théel, 1882|url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=123529#links|access-date=2020-10-23|website=www.marinespecies.org}}</ref> This list is subject to change as phylogenetic data clarifies the relationships among difficult-to-identify creatures whose soft appendages are often lost in the process of sample collection.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bluhm|first1=Hartmut|last2=Gebruk|first2=Andrej|date=1999|title=Holothuroidea (Echinodermata) of the Peru Basin - Ecological and Taxonomic Remarks Based on Underwater Images|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1439-0485.1999.00072.x|journal=Marine Ecology|language=en|volume=20|issue=2|pages=167–195|doi=10.1046/j.1439-0485.1999.00072.x|bibcode=1999MarEc..20..167B|issn=1439-0485|url-access=subscription}}</ref> * ''Benthodytes abyssicola'' * ''Benthodytes gosarsi'' * ''Benthodytes incerta'' * ''Benthodytes lingua'' * ''Benthodytes manuensis'' * ''Benthodytes marianensis'' * ''Benthodytes plana'' * ''Benthodytes sanguinolenta'' * ''Benthodytes sibogae'' * ''Benthodytes superba'' * ''Benthodytes typica'' * ''Benthodytes valdiviae'' * ''Benthodytes violeta'' * ''Benthodytes wolffi''
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Felley |first1=J.D. |last2=Vecchione |first2=M. |last3=Wilson |first3=R.R. |title=Small-scale distribution of deep-sea demersal nekton and other megafauna in the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge |journal=Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography |date=2008 |volume=55 |issue=1–2 |pages=153–160 |doi=10.1016/j.dsr2.2007.09.021 |bibcode=2008DSRII..55..153F }} * {{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Alastair |last2=Hauton |first2=Chris |last3=Stratmann |first3=Tanja |last4=Sweetman |first4=Andrew |last5=Van Oevelen |first5=Dick |last6=Jones |first6=Daniel O. B. |title=Metabolic rates are significantly lower in abyssal Holothuroidea than in shallow-water Holothuroidea |journal=Royal Society Open Science |date=2018 |volume=5 |issue=5 |doi=10.1098/rsos.172162 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2018RSOS....572162B |pmc=5990736 }} * {{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=Sarah Jane Murty |last2=Ruhl |first2=Henry A. |last3=Hawkins |first3=Lawrence E. |last4=Hauton |first4=Chris |last5=Boorman |first5=Ben |last6=Billett |first6=David S. M. |title=Deep-sea echinoderm oxygen consumption rates and an interclass comparison of metabolic rates in Asteroidea, Crinoidea, Echinoidea, Holothuroidea and Ophiuroidea |journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |date=2011 |volume=214 |issue=15 |pages=2512–2521 |doi=10.1242/jeb.055954 |pmid=21753044 |bibcode=2011JExpB.214.2512H }}
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Category:Psychropotidae Category:Sea cucumber genera Category:Taxa named by Johan Hjalmar Théel