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Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Scientific name: Pseudoboletia maculata
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Onna, Okinawa, Japan
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North Palm Beach, Florida, United States
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Utila, Islas de la Baha, Honduras
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Aghia Pelagia, Crete, Greece
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Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia
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Exmouth Gulf Airport, Western Australia, Australia
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Galapagos, Ecuador
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Named after the tasty Aussie cake, or the habit that it has of collecting algae that is drifting by. You can see the fine tentacles that stick out to grab the algae so it can be eaten; they are quite different to the white spines. All of the T. gratilla at Camp Cove today were holding little "hats" of algae. Cute!
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Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan
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Umdoni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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Umdoni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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This subtidal aggregation of T.g.elatensis demonstrates the high color variablity within this subspecies. Coloration of spines, tube-feet and pedicellaria ranges between white and black with no dominance of any color combination. to protect against high light intensity and camouflage they carry pebbles and sea-grass leaves.
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A living T. g. elatensis showing Type B pollution-induced deformity in Eilat, Red Sea: It showed mainly as an extreme apical collapse . It was apprently caused by chemicals ejected from a hotels laundry into an artificial lagoon. 2/3 of the population showed this deformity. This deformity was described by Dafni (1983b). It is still shown occasionally in small shore streches, apparently affected by polluted waters.
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Tests of Red Sea T. g. elatensis showing the rather smooth appearance of the test. arrows show the paucity of spine tubercles - less than 1 spine for each interambulacral plate (most oceanic Tripneustes - T. gratilla, T. depressus and T. ventricosus - all show at least one primary spine for each plate). The wide space between the ambulacra is densely covered by pedicellaria, which are poisonous the a certain degree (some people become allergic to it).
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Type A Deformed test of a T.g.elatensis showing exaggerate vertical growth, and "pinched" ambulacra, simultaneusly in all five ambulacra. A detailed descriotion of these deformities is shown in Dafni, 1980 and in Dafni & Erez 1987a,b.
