First Report of a Sea cucumber, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1833), from Hengam Island (Persian Gulf, Iran)

Ehsanpour Maryam; Afkhami Majid; Bahri Amir Houshang; Daryaei Abdolrasoul

Abstract

First Report of a Sea cucumber, Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833), from Hengam Island (Persian Gulf, Iran)

Ehsanpour Maryam, Afkhami Majid, Bahri Amir Houshang and Daryaei Abdolrasoul

In Iran, sea cucumbers are not well known and they are not consumed as food. With this respect and the lack of scientific knowledge about them, this study has been conducted in order to identify the present species in the Northern part of Persian Gulf. Sample collected on intertidal zone of Hengam Island (Persian Gulf) via scuba diving on November 2011.The literature review on the distribution was revaluated that this is the first report of Stichopus cf. monotuberculatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833) in Persian Gulf.The species identification was done through morphological keys and review of their ossicles.