| Diagnosis |
Mean live weight: 3500-6000 g. Body-wall thickness: 1.5 cm. Body firm, rigid, square-ish in cross-section, flattened ventrally (trivium). Bivium entirely covered with numerous characteristic, conical papillae and minute podia; bivium demarcated from the trivium by a row of large papillae. Podia numerous on trivium, with large disc, about 600 micrometer in diameter. Mouth ventral, surrounded by circle of 18 large brown tentacles. Anus terminal. Calcareous ring with large radial pieces and narrow interradials. Cuvierian tubules absent. Cloaca large. Bivium cream colored, with large beige dots; trivium generally beige; mature gonads deep purple. Spicules on tegument with branched spicules showing polygonal holes, and spicules in form of a "rose window", mostly abundant in the tentacles; tentacles also with straight, curved, or X-shaped rods; ventral podia with short, smooth rods; dorsal papillae with sparse, very long, spiny rods. |