The Morphology of Ossicles of 15 Commercial Holothurians

The ossicles of 15 commercially important holothurians were observed in order to identify these holothurians,and the relative ratios of ossicle in the sea cucumbers were compared.The results showed that there are six kinds of ossicles in the shape of tables,buttons,rods,plates,letter and rosettes in the 15 holothurians,and the forms and relative ratios of ossicles and morphologic characteristics of the same ossicle among the 15 holothurians have significant difference,by which they could be identified.Our results implied that it is a rapid and effective method for identifying holothurians by the morphologics characteristics of dorsal ossicles.