Sea Cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from Santa Catarina Coast, Southern Brazil, with Notes on Their Abundance and Spatial Distribution

ABSTRACT Sea cucumbers are important components of marine ecosystems and also highly valued commodities in Asian markets because of their use in oriental cuisine and traditional medicine. The increasing demand for sea cucumbers has elicited intense worldwide capture and many species are currently considered vulnerable or threatened due to overexploitation. The coast of Santa Catarina State (South Brazil) is the distribution limit of several tropical species in the Western South Atlantic, but little is known about the sea cucumber species occurring in this region. This study aimed to identify the holothuroids occurring in the littoral of Santa Catarina State and to survey their abundance and distribution along the coast. Visual and tactile inspections were carried out following transects in the intertidal zone of 11 locations and subtidal surveys were carried out by diving in two sites. The surveys indicated the occurrence of three species: Parathyone braziliensis in the intertidal zone, Holothuria (Halodeima) grisea in the intertidal as well as in the sublittoral, and Isostichopus badionotus in the sublittoral. The most abundant species was H. (H.) grisea, which occurred in several sites along the coast, up to Lat. 28° 01′ 07.67″ S, its likely southern limit of distribution. The species I. badionotus was for the first time recorded to occur on the continental coast of the State, expanding its area of distribution. This study registers for the first time the occurrence of P. braziliensis in southern Brazil, expanding its limit of geographic distribution.