About Sea Cucumbers
Sea cucumbers are part of a larger animal group called echinoderms, which also contains starfish and sea urchins. Their body shape is similar to a cucumber, but they have small tentacle-like tube feet that are used for locomotion and feeding. Depending on the species, sea cucumbers normally vary in size from less than an inch to over six feet.
Fast Facts
- Sea cucumbers are related to sea stars, sea urchins, and sand dollars.
- Sea cucumbers play an important role in cycling nutrients through the sediment on the sea floor
- They are found from shallow tide pools to the deep sea
- Sea cucumbers are edible
Special Adaptations
When threatened, some sea cucumbers discharge sticky threads to ensnare their enemies. Others can mutilate their own bodies as a defense mechanism. They violently contract their muscles and jettison some of their internal organs out of their anus. The missing body parts are quickly regenerated.
Sea cucumbers can also hide from predators by liquefying and solidifying their bodies at will. With this adaptation, they can pour themselves into cracks and crevices, then secure themselves in their hiding places by regaining their solid form. Sea cucumber skin is made of a unique type of collagen called mutable collagenous tissue that can stretch, slide, and reorient without being damaged. When sea cucumbers enter their rigid form, the tissue orients itself into a lattice structure.