Muscular fusiform sea cucumber

Molpadia musculus

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth406–2,938 m
Water temperature-2–30 °C
Best monthsApril
How commonOccasional

About this species

Molpadia musculus is a species of sea cucumber in the family Molpadiidae. It is found in deep waters in the Atlantic Ocean, burrowing in the mud.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Molpadia musculus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 23 records
February: 44 records
March: 39 records
April: 105 records
May: 29 records
June: 29 records
July: 58 records
August: 21 records
September: 40 records
October: 15 records
November: 46 records
December: 12 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 406–2,938 m · Deepest record: 6,060 m

10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 4 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 1 records
120+ m: 455 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -2–30 °C

-2–0 °C: 55 records
0–2 °C: 6 records
2–4 °C: 1 records
4–6 °C: 0 records
6–8 °C: 11 records
8–10 °C: 7 records
10–12 °C: 22 records
12–14 °C: 84 records
14–16 °C: 54 records
16–18 °C: 78 records
18–20 °C: 57 records
20–22 °C: 29 records
22–24 °C: 3 records
24–26 °C: 20 records
26–28 °C: 40 records
28–30 °C: 21 records

Names and classification

English: Muscular fusiform sea cucumber, muscular fusiform sea cucumber

Names in 2 more languages

French: holothurie puissante
Japanese: シリブトイモナマコ

Other scientific names: Ankyroderma danielsseni, Ankyroderma hispanicum, Ankyroderma loricatum, Ankyroderma musculus, Ankyroderma perrieri, Eumolpadia asaphes, Haplodactyla mediterranea, Molpadia danielsseni, Molpadia loricata, Trochostoma violaceum

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
607 open-data records from 1826 to 2025.

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