1951), Tortonese (1956), Tommasi (1958), Pawson and Fell (1965), Downey
(1973), Meyer et al. (1978), Serafy (1979), Pawson and Caycedo (1980), Miller
and Pawson (1984), Clark and Downey (1992), and Hendler et al. (1995).
The first publication by a Cuban scientist was by Arango (1877) ‘‘Los Radiados
de la Isla de Cuba’’. He gave a list of marine invertebrates including the echinoderms, the first record for the phylum in the archipelago. Later, Delgado-Núñez
(1917) did his doctoral thesis in Natural Sciences at Universidad de la Habana,
with a contribution on the study of the nervous system of the sea urchin Centrechinus antillarum (= Diadema antillarum Philippi, 1845).
The first identification key for echinoderms of Cuba made by Aguayo (1945) is
still of great practical use for scholars. That same year, Sirven-Villuenda (1945)
did his doctoral thesis on the subject ‘‘Equinoideos litorales de Cuba’’ (‘‘Littoral
Echinoids of Cuba’’), and in 1959, Pérez-Farfante (1959) published his doctoral
thesis on irregular echinoids of Cuba, presenting dichotomous keys and descriptions for 24 species of shallow and deep waters.
Subsequently there were no publications related to echinoderms until 1965, when
the Instituto de Oceanología de la Habana (Oceanology Institute of la Habana) was
created and study of echinoderms was resumed. The mission of this institute was to
establish the scientific basis to guarantee preservation and sustainable use of coastal
and marine resources of Cuban ecosystems and adjacent waters through multidisciplinary research. Since then, major development of marine sciences began in Cuba,
under the direction of Dr. Darío Guitar, an internationally renowned and professor at
Universidad de la Habana. Consequently, new talents have emerged who acquired
different specialties and research cruises have been undertaken especially from the
former Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Romania.
During the second half of the twentieth century, joint expeditions were made by
Cuban and European institutions and specialists, like the ‘‘I y II Expediciones
Conjuntas cubano-soviéticas’’ (‘‘1st and 2nd Cuban-Soviet Joint Expeditions’’).
Both of these expeditions studied different aspects of echinoderms, including the
extraction of bioactive substances to determine their potential use in medicine,
especially as anticarcinogens (Archivo Científico, Instituto de Oceanología). To
accomplish this, work was done in close relationship with specialists from the
Oncology and Radiology Institute at la Habana, Cuba.
As a result of the collections made by these cruises and their identification of
the specimens deposited in the collection at Instituto de Oceanología, Levin and
Gómez (1975) published a work on the holothurians of shallow waters of Cuba.
They described the external morphology and spicules of 17 species of sea
cucumbers and also provided data on their population density, habitat and ecology.
Nine of these species were recorded for the first time for Cuba.
After this, Suárez (1974) published his work ‘‘Lista de los equinodermos
cubanos recientes’’ (‘‘List of the recent Cuban echinoderms’’), which provided the
scientific name and synonymies of all species recorded for Cuba until that date.
It included all five classes of echinoderms and gave new records for the archipelago. She listed 308 species of echinoderms (Crinoidea: 33 species, Asteroidea:
83 species, Ophiuroidea: 116 species, Echinoidea: 67 species, and Holothuroidea:
12 Echinoderms of the Cuban Archipelago
407
(1973), Meyer et al. (1978), Serafy (1979), Pawson and Caycedo (1980), Miller
and Pawson (1984), Clark and Downey (1992), and Hendler et al. (1995).
The first publication by a Cuban scientist was by Arango (1877) ‘‘Los Radiados
de la Isla de Cuba’’. He gave a list of marine invertebrates including the echinoderms, the first record for the phylum in the archipelago. Later, Delgado-Núñez
(1917) did his doctoral thesis in Natural Sciences at Universidad de la Habana,
with a contribution on the study of the nervous system of the sea urchin Centrechinus antillarum (= Diadema antillarum Philippi, 1845).
The first identification key for echinoderms of Cuba made by Aguayo (1945) is
still of great practical use for scholars. That same year, Sirven-Villuenda (1945)
did his doctoral thesis on the subject ‘‘Equinoideos litorales de Cuba’’ (‘‘Littoral
Echinoids of Cuba’’), and in 1959, Pérez-Farfante (1959) published his doctoral
thesis on irregular echinoids of Cuba, presenting dichotomous keys and descriptions for 24 species of shallow and deep waters.
Subsequently there were no publications related to echinoderms until 1965, when
the Instituto de Oceanología de la Habana (Oceanology Institute of la Habana) was
created and study of echinoderms was resumed. The mission of this institute was to
establish the scientific basis to guarantee preservation and sustainable use of coastal
and marine resources of Cuban ecosystems and adjacent waters through multidisciplinary research. Since then, major development of marine sciences began in Cuba,
under the direction of Dr. Darío Guitar, an internationally renowned and professor at
Universidad de la Habana. Consequently, new talents have emerged who acquired
different specialties and research cruises have been undertaken especially from the
former Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Romania.
During the second half of the twentieth century, joint expeditions were made by
Cuban and European institutions and specialists, like the ‘‘I y II Expediciones
Conjuntas cubano-soviéticas’’ (‘‘1st and 2nd Cuban-Soviet Joint Expeditions’’).
Both of these expeditions studied different aspects of echinoderms, including the
extraction of bioactive substances to determine their potential use in medicine,
especially as anticarcinogens (Archivo Científico, Instituto de Oceanología). To
accomplish this, work was done in close relationship with specialists from the
Oncology and Radiology Institute at la Habana, Cuba.
As a result of the collections made by these cruises and their identification of
the specimens deposited in the collection at Instituto de Oceanología, Levin and
Gómez (1975) published a work on the holothurians of shallow waters of Cuba.
They described the external morphology and spicules of 17 species of sea
cucumbers and also provided data on their population density, habitat and ecology.
Nine of these species were recorded for the first time for Cuba.
After this, Suárez (1974) published his work ‘‘Lista de los equinodermos
cubanos recientes’’ (‘‘List of the recent Cuban echinoderms’’), which provided the
scientific name and synonymies of all species recorded for Cuba until that date.
It included all five classes of echinoderms and gave new records for the archipelago. She listed 308 species of echinoderms (Crinoidea: 33 species, Asteroidea:
83 species, Ophiuroidea: 116 species, Echinoidea: 67 species, and Holothuroidea:
12 Echinoderms of the Cuban Archipelago
407