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Scotoplanes globosa

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→ Scotoplanes is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumbers of the family Elpidiidae. Its species are commonly known as sea pigs.

Locomotion
Members of the Elpidiidae have particularly enlarged tube "feet" that have taken on a leg-like appearance, using water cavities within the skin to inflate and deflate thereby causing the appendages to move. The "horns" on its back are also actually legs. Scotoplanes move through the top layer of seafloor sediment and disrupt both the surface and the resident infauna as it feeds.

Ecology
Scotoplanes live on deep ocean bottoms, specifically on the abyssal plain in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, typically at depths of over 1,200 –5,000 metres. Some related species can be found in the Antarctic. Scotoplanes (and all deep-sea holothurians) are deposit feeders and obtain food by extracting organic particles from deep-sea mud. Scotoplanes globosa has been observed to demonstrate strong preferences for rich, organic food that has freshly fallen from the ocean's surface and uses olfaction to locate preferred food sources such as whale corpses. Scotoplanes, like many sea cucumbers, often occur in huge densities, sometimes numbering in the hundreds when observed. Early collections have recorded groups of up to 300-600 individuals. Sea pigs are also known to host different parasitic invertebrates, including gastropods (snails) and small tanaid crustaceans.



Scotoplanes, like other sea cucumbers, host parasitic and commensal organisms. For example, it provides a shelter to juvenile crabs, Neolithodes diomedeae. It is known that such relationship benefits the crabs because they can reduce risks of predation when they are under the shelter.

Size
Scotoplanes can be as big as up to 4-6" (15 cm) long.

Physiology
Scotoplanes are tiny and have their own defence mechanism to protect themselves from predators. Their skin contains a toxic chemical called holothurin which is poisonous to other creatures.

Like all echinoderms, Scotoplanes have a poorly developed respiratory system and they breathe from their anus. Their bodies are made for the deep seas and bringing them too close to the surface would cause them to disintegrate.

Taxonomy
The genus includes the following species:


 * Scotoplanes angelicus
 * Scotoplanes globosa
 * Scotoplanes mutabilis

A study done provides histologic findings that these deep-sea dwelling sea pigs are similar to other holothuroidea, though there are few notable differences: Most holothurians are sexually dioecious with sexes in separate individuals. Unlike other echinoderms, holothuroids possess only a single gonad. The water vascular system of holothuians is similar to other echinoderms, except the madreporite opens in the perivisceral coelom instead of in the external body wall. In male Scotoplanes their aboral intestines have protozoa inside these cyst cavities.