sea cucumber Heterocucumis steineni

Heterocucumis steineni is found in Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, South Orkney Islands, South Georgia Island, Falkland Islands, and Burdwood Bank from 1 to 1,200 meters depth [2,3,5]. H. steineni is beige to chestnut brown, can be almost white or white and brown in one specimen, and has dark spots between tentacles [1,5,6]. H. steineni is up to fifteen centimeters long [2].


Heterocucumis steineni may attach to other organisms like hydroids and fan-shaped bryozoans or it may live with the lower half of its body in sediment [4,7]. This facultative life style may explain why its posterior feet are wart-like and its anterior feet are exceptionally long, up to five millimeters [4,7].


Heterocucumis steineni is a suspension feeder [4,7].


Heterocucumis steineni is one of the most widely spread Dendrochirotida sea cucumbers in the Weddell Sea [4].

Taxonomic Note: In earlier literature, appears under different genera including Cucumaria, Ekmocucumis, and Heterocucumis [8].

1: C Vaney. Holothuries. Expedition Antarctique Francaise (1903-1905). Paris : Masson et Cie, 1906; 2: S Ekman. Holothurien. Further Zoological Results of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition 1901-1903. Volume 1, Number 6. Stockholm : PA Norstedt & Soner, 1925; 3: Berichte zur Polarforschung 41:1-87, 1988; 4: Polar Biology 11(3):145-155, 1991; 5: Fauna der Antarktis. J Sieg, JW Wagele, eds. Berlin : P Parey, 1990; 6: Julian Gutt, personal communication, 2000; 7: Polar Biology 11(8):533-544, 1992; 8: Memoirs of Museum Victoria 59(2):297–325, 2002

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