The Family Tree

Domain: Eukarya
    Kingdom: Animalia
        Phylum: Echinodermata
            Class: Holothuroidea
                Order: Aspidochirotida
                    Family: Stichopodidae
                        Genus: Stichopus
                            Species: Stichopus chloronotus

Domain: Eukarya
Cells of this organism contain a true nucleus with its genetic material being composed of linear chromosomes as well as membrane bound organelles within the cell.

Kingdom: Animalia
Members of the Animalia are heterotrophic (feed on other organisms for energy), multicellular, and lack a cell wall which is what gives them much more mobility than other kingdoms such as Plants and Fungi.

Phylum: Echinodermata
Stichopus chloronotus belongs to this phylum due to its endoskeleton comprised of spiny plates called ossicles which are composed of calcium carbonate. Echinoderms also possess a water vascular system including tube feet for mobility and other interactions. Another organism that belongs to this phylum is the common starfish. Click here to learn more about the common starfish.

Class: Holothurioidea
Holothurians or better known as sea cucumbers, typically have five rows of tube feet an elongated body which is what gives them their common name. Their endoskeleton is much more reduced than most echinoderms and they lack the spines that other echinoderms have.

Order: Aspidochirotida
Holothurians belonging to the Aspidochirotida often have numerous amounts of tentacles and a well-developed respiratory tree. Usually the tentacles of Aspidochirotida are all of the same size and are all peltate, meaning they have a central stalk.

Family: Stichopodidae
Holothurians belonging to the family Stichopodidae have either a square shaped or trapezoidal cross-section. They do not contain Cuvierian organs and their ossicles are in the form of C-, S-, and branched shaped rods.

Genus: Stichopus
In the genus Stichopus the bottom is slightly flattened and is usually covered with podia (tube feet) . The endoskeleton is comprised of ossicles which can develop into C and S-shaped rods, branched rods or tables.  The body is also covered by tubercules and papillae.

Species: Stichopus chloronotus
Stichopus chloronotus is usually a greenish to blackish color with a body that is very firm, rigid and slightly flattened on the ventral side. They also have a double row of papillae down the length of their body that are tipped with an orange or red color. Furthermore, they are usually 18 cm in length and have a body tissue that easily deteriorates when it is outside of water. In Greek, "chloro" translates as green and "notus" translates as "known as".
 

What is going on here?

The phylogentic tree above shows the relationship Holothuroidea has with other common organismal classes. It is reconstructed from information found on www.tolweb.org  and is based on molecular analyses of 18s and 16s rRNA sequencing. The tree shows that based on this data, Holothuroidea are most closely related to Echinoidea, more commonly known as sea urchins.       

The tree below is a reproduction based off of morphological data of the ten species below published in the Zoological Journal of Linnean Society. Characteristics such as ossicles, shape, size, tentacles, and environment were taken into account. According to this tree, Stichopus chloronotus is most closely related to another species belonging to the family Stichopodidae called Thelenota ananus.     

Now learn about where Stichopus chloronotus lives!