(Brandt, 1835)

Description
Body cilindrical, up to 150 mm in length and 35 mm thick; coloured brownish, often with irregular darker spots.

Tentacles
There are 10 small tentacles.

Tube-feet
The tube-feet are retractile and are arranged in distinct double series in all five ambulacra. In small specimens, the tube-feet may be arranged in zigzag rows (O. planci tube feet).

Skin
The skin is thick, smooth and leathery, with numerous calcareous deposits consisting of (1) plates with more than 4 holes and which are covered with nodules, and (2) small irregular cups in the outer layer of the skin (O. planci spicules).

Habitat
This epifaunal species is found on sheltered sites, on shells, tube-worms and other sessile invertebrates; from depths of 15-175 m.

Distribution
In the North Sea this species is known from ....... Elsewhere it is known from the coast of Portugal, off Senegal and the Mediterranean.

Remark
This species very much resembles Ocnus lacteus, but can be identified by the calcareous deposits which are larger and have more 4 holes.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Echinodermata
Class Holothurioidea
Order Dendrochirota
Family Cucumariidae
Subfamily Cucumariinae
Genus Ocnus
Species planci

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Ocnus planci (Brandt, 1835)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Cladodactyla planci Brandt, 1835
Cucumaria doliolum Lamk., partim., 18??
Cucumaria planci von Marenzeller, 1893
Holothuria brunneus (W. thomson, 1840, ex Forbes, MS), non Chamisso & Eysenhardt, 1821
Ocnus brunneus, Forbes & Goodsir, in Forbes, 1841

Mortensen, T.H., 1927. Handbook of the Echinoderms of the British Isles. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press: 471 pp.

Picton, B.E., 1993. A field guide to the shallow-water Echinoderms of the British Isles. Immel Publishing: 96 pp.

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