The sea cucumber is an echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, with an elongated body and leathery skin. Mostly found on the sea floor. It is so named because of its cucumber-like shape.
Sea cucumbers are generally scavengers, feeding on debris in the benthic layer. Their diet consists of plankton and other organic matter found in the sea. One way they might get a supply of food is to position themselves in a current where they can catch food that flow by with their tentacles when they open. Another way is to sift through the bottom sediments using their tentacles.
They first fire sticky threads to incapacitate predators, and then shoot out their internal organs when startled by a potential predator. These organs can then be regrown.
Sea cucumbers reproduce by releasing sperm into the ocean water. :barf
Sea cucumbers have also inspired thousands of haiku in Japan, where they are called
namako. In haiku, they are usually called sea slugs, for the sake of the sluggish metaphor.
The effectiveness of sea cucumber extract in tissue repair has been the subject of serious study. It not only helps a wound heal more quickly but is also said to reduce scarring.
Sea cucumber is one of the most unique foodstuffs in Chinese cuisine. It is highly valued for its supposed medicinal properties. The flesh of the animal is "cleaned" in a process that takes several days.
Sea cucumbers have inspired musical composition: in the first of his Embryons desséchés, Erik Satie presents the "(desiccated embryo) of a Holothuroidean" and inserts a description of the animal in the score:
The Holothuroidean crawls across bolders and rocky surfaces.
This sea-animal purrs like a cat; also, it produces disgusting silky threads.
Light appears to have an incommodating effect on it.
Oh yeah, and they have no brains. Pretty cool.
Threaded Mode
