Article related with Sea Cucumber

Sea Cucumbers

Sea cucumbers belong to a sub-category of echinoderms called holothuroidea. Some members of the group look like cucumbers you find in the supermarket. The similarity ends there.

Sea cucumbers are football shaped creatures that lay on their side at the bottom of the ocean. They have five rows of tube feet running lengthwise. Its mouth is surrounded by tentacles that are really tubed feet. Unlike sea stars, the vascular system is not filled with sea water. Instead, sea cucumbers use a special body fluid.

Sea cucumbers eat plankton and other organic matter. Some position themselves in a current that brings a steady supply of food, and spend hours there. The tentacles open up and collect food in the current. The sea cucumber brings each tentacle to its mouth to eat, while the other tentacles go on collecting food. Other sea cucumbers feed by sifting through sand using their tentacles.

How Do Sea Cucumbers Protect Themselves?
Many sea cucumbers are poisonous. If injured, sea cucumbers can kill fish in the same aquarium as them.

The sea cucumber has an interesting way of defending itself--a sea cucumber can expel (throw out) all of its internal organs! This either scares off or satisfies predators. The sea cucumber can then grow another set of internal organs.

Some sea cucumbers secrete a very sticky substance as a defense mechanism. If you get this glue on your body, you will not be able to remove it without shaving your skin!