Cloeosiphon aspergillus (de Quatrefages, 1865)
General description:
Quatrefages (1865) described the type locality as “Île de France C. M..” The actual denomination for Île de France is Mauritius Island.
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Sipuncula
Cloeosiphon aspergillus (de Quatrefages, 1865)
Cloeosiphon aspergillus (de Quatrefages, 1865)
General description:Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN): A’ (R) 1868. Nº 423a (old catalogue number) was chosen by Saiz Salinas (1984) as lectotype.
Cloeosiphon aspergillus (de Quatrefages, 1865)
General description:Cloeosiphon aspergillus is a well known coral reef species in the Indo-West Pacific region. Commonly found in coral rubble, this species is easily distinguished from other sipunculans by its unique anal shield. Composed of diamond-shaped calcareous units, each one with a dark central pore, closely apposed to its neighbors like mosaic tiles, the anal shield has the appearance of a pineapple.
Morphology:(From Cutler 1994, Saiz Salinas 1984, Stephen & Edmonds 1972)
External anatomy
Introvert extends through the center of the anal shield and is longer than the trunk.
The tentacular crown is only a membrane with grooves, encircling the nuchal organ (Saiz Salinas, 1984).
Distal bidentate hooks are arranged in about 23 rings (Saiz Salinas, 1984).
The anal shield has a pineapple appearance, with diamond-shaped calcareous units, each one with a dark central pore, arranged neatly against its neighbors, like mosaic tiles.
The trunk is smooth and pale and may exceed 90 mm, although most specimens are between 10 to 40 mm long.
Internal anatomy
The longitudinal muscle layer is continuous in most of the trunk with weak bands along about two-thirds of the trunk in the dorsal region.
A spindle muscle arises near the anus and is attached posteriorly.
Rectal caecum is not present.
Nephridia arise posterior to the anus and extend almost to the base of the retractors. They are fixed by mesentery to the trunk wall for most of their length except at the distal extremity.
A pair of retractor muscles originates about one fifth of the trunk length from the posterior extremity.
Distribution:(From Cutler, 1994)
This species has been collected in many places in the Indo-West Pacific: East Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldive and Laccadive island, Southeast Asia, southern Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, northern Australia, New Hebrides, New Guinea and many other western Pacific islands, except for Hawaii.
Habitat:This species lives in coral rubble, often found in Millepora species (Cutler, 1994).