''Polycheira'' is a genus of
holothurians (sea cucumbers) found in tropical
Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...
.
A curious pattern of reproduction has been found in ''
Polycheira rufescens'' where specimens change their sex from male to female and from female to male in a reproductive season
Systematics
''Polycheira'' appear to be closely related to the genus ''
Chiridota'' (both belong to the subfamily Chiridotinae). The
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
of the genus is ''Polycheira rufescens'' (Brandt, 1835).
The following species are recognised in the genus ''Polycheira'':
MarineSpecies.org - Polycheira
/ref>
*'' Polycheira echinata'' Heding, 1928
*'' Polycheira rufescens'' (Brandt, 1835)
References
Holothuroidea genera
Chiridotidae
{{Holothuroidea-stub