Bohadschia cousteaui Cherbonnier, 1954: 252; Cherbonnier, 1955: 133, pl. 23, figs a-k; Cherbonnier, 1963: 5; Cherbonnier, 1967: 55; Rowe, 1969: 130; Clark & Rowe, 1971: 176; Tortonese, 1977: 275; Humes, 1980: 87, 118; Price, 1982: 10; Cherbonnier, 1988 44, fig. 15A-K; Samyn, 2000: 15; Samyn, 2003: 19, figs 7A-F, 551G, pl. 1G; Samyn et al., 2005 : 15.
Bohadschia consteaui; Daniel & Halder, 1974: 417 (lapsus calami).
Type data: EcHh 1526; Lith harbor, station N°9 Saudi Arabia; 2-6 m depth; coll. Calypso Expedition; 13.XII.1951 (18h); well preserved; well relaxed; ventro-longitudinal dissection; calcareous ring removed from specimen.
Anatomical description: 205 mm long; 43-59 mm wide; bivium arched; trivium distinctly flattened; mouth ventral; anus dorsal; dorsal body wall dark brown to black; ventral body wall dark brown; tentacles beige; color dorsal appendages brown to black; ventral tube feet brown; dorsal appendages dispersed regularly over bivium; ventral tube dispersed regularly over trivium; bivium and trivium not separated by lateral fringe of appendages; body wall 1-4 mm thick, smooth to the touch; 13 tentacles counted; radial plates with slightly convex posterior side; interradial plates narrower than radial ones; length radial plates 1.5 to 2 times longer than interradial ones; number of tentacle ampullae could not be determined; tentacle ampullae short, 5-6 mm long; number and size of Polian vesicle(s) could not be determined; number and size of stone canal(s) could not be determined; longitudinal muscles bifid, wide, free at edges; respiratory trees longer than half of body length; cloaca 40 mm long; Cuvierian tubules present.
Ossicle description: tentacles with rods of various sizes; dorsal body wall with abundant simple rosettes; ventral body wall with granules; dorsal tube feet with rosettes, cross-shaped an elongated rods; ventral tube feet with reduced rosettes and granules; cloaca and respiratory tree with smooth rods; longitudinal muscels, cloacal retractor muscles, gonad and gut devoid of ossicles; ossicle assemblage of dorsal appendages and rete mirabile not determined.
Known distribution: Red Sea (Saudi Arabia, Gulf of Aqaba, Eilat), Kenya, Madagascar (Tuléar, îlot Tanikely), Comoros Archipelago (Grande Comore).
Taxonomic decision: valid species (confirmed after re-examination of holotype and other voucher specimens).
Remarks: Cherbonnier introduced the name Bohadschia cousteaui twice; once in 1954 and once in 1955 and this twice deliberately (indicated ‘nov. sp.’) to indicate a new species. However the description he gave was each time based on the same syntypes coming from Lith harbour. Bohadschia cousteaui Cherbonnier, 1954 is thus the senior objective synonym of B. cousteaui Cherbonnier, 1955.
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