Bathyplotes natans (Sars, 1868)

(Fig. 16 A – D)

Holothuria natans Sars, 1868: 20 .

Bathyplotes natans; Rowe & Gates, 1995: 328 (synonymy); Pawson et al., 2009: 1202.

Material examined. Non-type material: IE-2007-772 (1 specimen, collected between Majunga and Cape Saint André)

Remarks. C-shaped rods have been reported from the body wall of several Bathyplotes species. As already noted by Östergren (1896), C-shaped ossicles are absent in the body wall of B. natans; they are however present in the cloacal wall and in the longitudinal muscles, the latter being a new observation (fig. 12D).

This record is however the first for the Indian Ocean.