Physical Description
Holothuria hilla is a leathery soft-bodied holothuroid that has a light brown to chestnut-brown body with blunt ends (Lee et al 2008; Foster & Smith 2012). It has an elongated cylindrical body shape with a penta-radial symmetry along its longitudinal axis (Afkhami et al 2012).
Figure 1a. Photos showing the dorsal and ventral sides of H. hilla.
The body wall has distinctive creamy white spots which marks the base of each spiny papillae (Afkhami et al 2012; Foster & Smith 2012). The dorsal and ventral sides of this species are well demarcated with five rows of white hollow conical tube feet running lengthwise on the ventral surface (based on personal observations). The ventral surface is also of a lighter brown as compared to the dorsal surface (Figure 1a).
Figure 1b. Photos showing the mouth and anus of H. hilla.
It has a terminal anus and a ventral mouth which has 20 small pale yellow tentacles encircling it (Afkhami et al 2012) (Figure 1b)
Figure 1c. Photo showing the buccal podia that is extended out from the mouth of H. hilla.
Buccal podia covers the terminal part of these tentacles. These specialised oral tube feet are used for mopping up sediments for feeding (Haney 2003). When the animal is not feeding, the feeding tentacles will be retracted and the oral end will be constricted (Ruppert et al 2004). The maximum length recorded for this species was 44cm (Shakouri et al 2009). |