sea cucumber

(also called ‘sea apple’)

a kind of sea animal – bottom dweller – related to the ‘sea stars’ and ‘sea urchins’ – a long elongated soft body (sausage shaped) with warty or soft spines, brown, reddish brown, light orange, white (or patched) in colour and with an endoskeleton (= hard inner cover) just below the skin, 8-30 tube-like feet (like tentacles) surrounding the mouth opening; size: ¾ inch to 8 feet in length, and a few grams to 4-5 Kg. in weight, on average, 10-16 inches in length and 1-2 inch in diameter; feeds on (eats) plankton (= very small plant matter in water) and the decaying (rotting) organic matter; lives for 5-10 years; about 1250 species found in all the waters of the world

Special Features:

The sea cucumber gets its name from the green vegetable ‘cucumber’ because of its shape.

Sea cucumbers are a food source in some parts of the world, especially in Asia.

When threatened, sea cucumbers stiffen their soft bodies and eject a kind of fluid or even the inner parts (intestines) in order to confuse the predators!

This act of stiffening the body and ejecting fluid in sea cucumbers is associated with the erection and ejaculation of the human penis (male sex organ) in sex act, and so some people in some societies believe that eating sea cucumbers improves their performance in sex, which, according to the scientists, is a myth – a false belief!

Sea cucumbers throw out their inner parts to confuse the predators and re-grow them immediately, and this has led some people to believe that eating sea cucumber improves human tissue formation!!

Sea cucumbers are dried and made into oil which is used in making some kinds of medicine, and also in creams and cosmetics!!

<<< Back to List S —-    Next … seahorse >>>