Page 116 - (DK) Super Shark Encyclopedia: And Other Creatures of the Deep

INSIDE-OUT TRICKSTER

SEA CUCUMBER

An animal that looks like a juicy sausage is sure to attract
the attentions of a predator, but a sea cucumber may not be
such a tasty feast. This flabby-bodied, slow-moving animal Water pressure
inflates tube feet
lives on the sea floor and seems quite helpless. Some types
of sea cucumbers have bright colors as a warning that they
contain poisons in their flesh. If that doesn’t work, they resort
to drastic measures: they squirt out their innards in a sticky
mess—usually enough to send the hungriest prowler on its way.
TUBE FEET
A sea cucumber has suckerlike tube feet that
each extend by the pressure of water inside
AT A GLANCE them until the sucker sticks to a surface. When
the pressure drops, the foot lifts. Together the
tube feet haul the animal forwards.

“Sea cucumbers

regrow their

• SIZE 4 in–11 ft (0.1–3.3 m) long body organs
• HABITAT On the seabed, from deep sea to
shallow coastlines in two weeks”
• LOCATION Worldwide

• DIET Plankton and decaying material

STATS AND FACTS

DENSEST POPULATION
1,000 per 10¾ sq ft Five rows of tube
(1,000 per sq m) Some species of deep
ocean sea cucumbers feet along the body
for moving slowly
are so abundant they
0 500 1,000 1,500 over surfaces
are the most common
animal for miles around.
DEPTH
33,430 ft/10,190 m (max.)
MAXIMUM LIFESPAN Bright orange and red
ft 20,000 40,000
m 5,000 10,000 15,000 10 markings as warning

YEARS

114