Sea Cucumbers

As sea cucumbers are echinoderms they have an internal skeleton, but evolution has led this to be reduced to small calcareous plates embedded in the skin. The sea cucumber has a simple physiology, a tubular body with a mouth and anus at either end.

The mouth is surrounded by tentacles used for the intake of food. Sea cucumbers have tube feet and move by crawling. Sea cucumbers are slow moving and have evolved anti predator strategies. Some species expel cuvarian tubules which are sticky white threads while others expel their internal organs. The internal organs will regenerate.

Sea Gherkin Pawsonia saxicola

The sea gherkin is a small cucumber reaching four inches in length. Its white to yellow cylindrical body has five rows of tube feet. Ten whitish tentacles surround the mouth.