Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Madeira, Patrícia, Kroh, Andreas, Cordeiro, Ricardo, De, António M., Martins, Frias & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2019, The Echinoderm Fauna of the Azores (NE Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4639 (1), pp. 1-231 : 175

Erroneous— Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939

Reports for the Azores:

non Holothuria dakarensis Panning, 1939 — Rowe 1969: 153, 154 [misidentified];

Holothuria (Holothuria) dakarensis Panning, 1939 — Pérez-Ruzafa et al. 1992b: 154–155, 1999: 57, 2002: 287–288 [based on Rowe 1969].

Type locality: Dakar ( Senegal) .

See: Cherbonnier (1950); Borrero-Pérez et al. (2009); Pawson et al. (2010: 37–38, fig. 30); Prata et al. (2014).

Occurrence: Atlantic, in the west from off Georgia south to the Gulf of Mexico ( Pawson et al. 2010) and Rio Grande do Norte ( Brazil; Prata et al. 2014) and in the east from Dakar ( Senegal) and Cape Verde to Angola ( Cherbonnier 1950, 1965, Borrero-Pérez et al. 2009).

Depth: 1–54 m ( Borrero-Pérez et al. 2009, Prata et al. 2014).

Habitat: under rocks on sand or mud ( Borrero-Pérez et al. (2009).

Larval stage: probably planktotrophic (inferred from the genus; see McEdward & Miner 2001).

Remarks: in a review of the family Holothuriidae, Rowe (1969) listed the Azores under the geographical distribution of Holothuria dakarensis , a statement repeated by subsequent works. Pawson & Shirley (1977) believed that Rowe based his statement on material from Faial Island, deposited in the collection of the British Natural History Museum. On re-examination, the authors concluded the specimens belonged either to H. mammata or H. tubulosa rather than H. dakarensis . Furthermore, Borrero-Pérez et al. (2009) showed that H. dakarensis was historically confused with H. mammata , restricting the geographical range of H. dakarensis in the East Atlantic to southern latitudes of the African coasts, from Senegal and Cape Verde to Angola.