Sea Cucumber facts: fruit of the sea | Animal Fact Files

Sea cucumbers get their common name from their shape, but not all sea cucumbers look like the green plants commonly used to make pickles! There are more than 1,000 classified species of these amazing animals, and they're most closely related to other echinoderms such as sea stars and sand dollars. Sea cucumbers may be found in inter-tidal zones all the way down to the depths of the ocean, and if they get attacked they have quite a surprising way to evade a predator.

Scientific Name: Class - Holothuroidea
Range: all the world's oceans
Size: under and inch to more than six feet (1.8m)
Diet: detritus, microscopic plants and animals
Lifespan 5-10 years

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Image and Video Credits:
Gonzalo Mucientes -    • Synapta maculata, the snake sea cucumber  
Dmitry Kompanets -    • Трепанги. Дальневосточные трепанги в ...  
MrChopsta -    • Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucos...  
Sean Anderson -    • Holothurian habitat selectivity Puffy...  ;    • Rectangular sea cucumber  
Chris Thompson -    • ugly sea cucumber  ;    • Sea Cucumbers Mixing It Up  
Bruce Carlson -    • Видео  
Pata Negra Dive Center Panglao Bohol Philippines -    • Video Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber | Pata ...  
Chris Taklis -    • 3 species together.  ;    • White Spot Cucumber / Holothuria poli  
Jason Antic -    • Warty Sea Cucumber - August 26, 2017  


NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research - https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanex... https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanex... https://www.flickr.com/photos/oceanex...
Ed Bierman - https://www.flickr.com/photos/edbierm...


Jon Houseman - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Andrew Butko - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...


Research Credits:
https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRp...
https://books.google.com/books?id=Etk...
https://books.google.com/books?id=ff5...
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ho6...
https://books.google.com/books?id=dyD...
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/...
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/an...
https://www.livescience.com/sea-cucum...