The Diversity, Distribution And Morphological Descriptions Of Stichopodidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) In The Vicinity Of Malaysian Waters

A study was carried out on the diversity and distribution of sea cucumbers from the family Stichopodidae at the shallow coral reefs of the Straits of Malacca, South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea. A total of nine species of stichopodids from two different genera (Stichopus and Thelenota) were identified. Seven species were from the genus Stichopus, namely S. chloronotus, S. horrens, S. ocellatus, S. rubermaculosus, S. herrmanni, S. vastus and one unknown species named Stichopus sp.. Two species belong to the genus Thelenota namely T. ananas and T. anax. Identification of each species was done by description of their morphology as well as calcareous spicules examination from four parts of the body that were the dorsal body, papillae, tentacles and tube feet. A new spicule was described on the tentacles of S. rubermaculosus as well as a pseudo-table on the dorsal body of S. herrmanni that was not observed before. The most widely distributed species were S. chloronotus and S. vastus. The South China Sea was the most diverse area compared to the other seas with a total of six different species found. However, Pulau Payar at the northern Straits of Malacca recorded the highest diversity among all sampling locations with four species found and the Shahnon-Wiener diversity index (H’) of 1.17. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showed clear division in the distribution of stichopodids between the Straits of Malacca and the rest of the seas. The stichopodids were found in water depths ranging from 5 to 22 metres mostly on sandy substrate except for T. ananas on dead corals with algae and S. chloronotus on mixture of sand and coral rubble