Updated checklist of the Northern Persian Gulf and Oman Sea holothurians

Authors

Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, SR, C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22124/cjes.2026.9640

Abstract

Holothurians are detritus feeder Echinoderms, live in different marine zones and play ecological roles in the marine ecosystems. The first research on the Echinoderms in the Persian Gulf took place in 1908 by Koehler and Vaney and was used as basis for further studies by Heding in 1940s. Studies in the Persian Gulf show various common species of the sea cucumbers in the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea. This paper provides a checklist of 22 sea cucumbers identified in the Northern Persian Gulf and Oman Sea belonging to 4 orders: Holothuriida, Synallactida, Apodida and Dendrochirotida. Holothurians belong to genus Holothuria, species: Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt, 1835), Holothuria (Selenkothuria) parva Krauss in Lampert, 1885, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) arenicola Semper, 1868 and Stichopus herrmanni Semper, 1868 are abundant in the Northern Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, concentration of the species Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt, 1835) is the most prevalent in the area. The other species distribution is limited.
 

Keywords

References

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Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences
Volume 24, Issue 2
April 2026
Pages 623-631

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