Morphological and Molecular Identification of Holothuria (Selenkothuria) parva from Bostaneh Port, Persian Gulf

Abstract

This study has been undertaken to investigate morphological and molecular identification of sea cucumber Holothuria (Selenkothuria) parva geographically distributed in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. Specimens were collected from the intertidal zone of Bostaneh Port during 2013. Molecular genetic analysis was done to confirm the morphological identification and taxonomic status of species in phylogenetic trees. Results proved 100% identity of sea cucumber Holothuria (Selenkothuria) parva with previously identified and submitted sequences in GenBank. This species shared a common cluster in phylogenetic tree. This is the first report of Holothuria (Selenkothuria) parva from Bostaneh Port with both morphological and molecular details.