Sea Cucumber

ID points

• Soft cylindrical body, creeping slowly over the sand
• A ring of branched tentacles around the mouth
• Ejects sticky threads or its own guts in defence when disturbed

Basics

Family

Holothuroidea

Length

15–40 cm

Depth

0-50 m

Regions

Indo-Pacific reefs · Caribbean & W. Atlantic · Temperate & polar

Distribution

Shallow seabeds in tropical and temperate seas worldwide

Habitat

Shallow seabeds and sandy bottoms

Diet

Organic detritus in the sediment

Easily confused with

Brittle StarFive slender arms clearly set off from the central discFlatheadHead extremely flat and broad, with the eyes on topLizardfishFlat lizard-like head with a very wide mouth

Fun fact

When threatened, a Sea Cucumber ejects its internal organs out of its body to confuse or entangle the predator, and regrows everything it lost within a few weeks. Sea cucumbers are the janitors of the reef ecosystem, recycling nutrients by swallowing sediment.