Holothuria leucospilota
(Brandt, 1835) · speciesAt a glance
Sources14 archives
Databases and archives Holothuria leucospilota's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 911 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System782 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI40 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics42 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Holothuria leucospilota, commonly known as the black sea cucumber or black tarzan, is a species of marine invertebrate in the family Holothuriidae. It is placed in the subgenus Mertensiothuria making its full scientific name Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota. It is the type species of the subgenus and is found on the seabed in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Holothuria leucospilota across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds18 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (2R)-2-hydroxy-N-[(E,2S,3R,14R)-3-hydroxy-14-methyl-1-[(2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxyhexadec-4-en-2-yl]docosanamide | present | LOTUS | |
| [(3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-[(2S,3R,4R,5S,6R)-5-[(2S,3R,4S,5R,6R)-4-[(2S,3R,4S,5R,6R)-3,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-4-methoxyoxan-2-yl]oxy-3,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-3,4-dihydroxy-6-methyloxan-2-yl]oxy-6-[[(1S,2S,5R,6S,9S,10S,13S,16S,18R)-6-[(2S)-5,5-dimethyloxolan-2-yl]-5,10-dihydroxy-2,6,13,17,17-pentamethyl-8-oxo-7-oxapentacyclo[10.8.0.02,9.05,9.013,18]icos-11-en-16-yl]oxy]-4-hydroxyoxan-3-yl] hydrogen sulfate | present | LOTUS | |
| [5-[5-[4-[3,5-Dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-4-methoxyoxan-2-yl]oxy-3,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxan-2-yl]oxy-3,4-dihydroxy-6-methyloxan-2-yl]oxy-6-[[6-(5,5-dimethyloxolan-2-yl)-5,10-dihydroxy-2,6,13,17,17-pentamethyl-8-oxo-7-oxapentacyclo[10.8.0.02,9.05,9.013,18]icos-11-en-16-yl]oxy]-4-hydroxyoxan-3-yl] hydrogen sulfate | present | LOTUS | |
| [6-[[6-(5,5-Dimethyloxolan-2-yl)-5,10-dihydroxy-2,6,13,17,17-pentamethyl-8-oxo-7-oxapentacyclo[10.8.0.02,9.05,9.013,18]icos-11-en-16-yl]oxy]-4-hydroxy-5-(3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-methyloxan-2-yl)oxyoxan-3-yl] hydrogen sulfate | present | LOTUS | |
| AEMOLEFTQBMNLQ-IJAWEHMJSA-N | present | NPASS | |
| D-Galactose | present | NPASS | |
| DAIDKOMWNKGKSP-UHFFFAOYSA-N | present | NPASS | |
| FZHXIRIBWMQPQF-UHFFFAOYSA-N | present | NPASS | |
| Glucosamine | present | NPASS | |
| KFAYECQGXSDHKU-XXHMAFKTSA-N | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Holothuria leucospilota has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Holothuria leucospilota carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type3 693 records
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions10 of 26 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 67 |
| Sydney, AU | 64 |
| Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record | 53 |
| Washington, US | 45 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 30 |
| Cambridge, US | 27 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 15 |
| Brussels, BE | 14 |
| Western Australian Museumlocation not on record | 13 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 8 |
| Natick, US | 7 |
| Royal Museum for Central Africalocation not on record | 7 |
| Paris, FR | 7 |
| University of Floridalocation not on record | 6 |
| CASlocation not on record | 4 |
| Honolulu, US | 4 |
| Puerto Ayora, EC | 4 |
| Los Angeles, US | 3 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 3 |
| National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record | 3 |
| Earth Sciences New Zealandlocation not on record | 3 |
| Chicago, US | 2 |
| Universidad El Bosque (El Bosque)location not on record | 1 |
| National Museums of Kenyalocation not on record | 1 |
| University of California Museum of Paleontologylocation not on record | 1 |
| Gump Stationlocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Holothuria leucospilota was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.