MEET A SEA CUCUMBER!!
Since yesterday was World Oceans Day and June is Oceans Month we’re featuring sea creatures all week! Today we want to introduce you to Shelly the Sea Cucumber!
Hi everyone! I’m Shelly the sea cucumber! I’m here to tell you all about myself and my fellow sea cucumber pals!
- I’m a bottom dweller!
- I have feeding tentacles that come out of my mouth to grab food.
- I eat algae, waste material and tiny animals.
- The waste I produce helps recycle nutrients. I am often called the vacuum cleaner of the oceans!
- I do have an endoskeleton of very small bony plates that sit under my skin.
- I’m an echinoderm! My relatives include the sea star and the sea urchin! I do not have 5 segmented body parts like those cousins!
- There are around 1,700 species of sea cucumbers. It’s a good thing we don’t have family reunions.
- Some of us expel our internal organs when we feel threatened. I know it is kind of gross, but it’s effective.
- Some of us just taste bad to protect ourselves.
- I have no eyes and no true brain.
I sure hope you have enjoyed learning more about me and my other sea cucumber friends! Happy oceans month!
The Adventures of Ellie and Edmond 
So odd. A moving vegetable? Info I did not know.
A moving animal that looks like a vegetable 🙂 The ocean is full of wondrous things!