Pharyngula

Posted by: Fred The Hun | February 22, 2010 6:17 AM

californicus... uhuh.

Posted by: haakon.thunestvedt | February 22, 2010 6:29 AM

Until I clicked the link, I thought the seagrass was hair and the sea cucumber was a parasitic worm on a human body which made it even more dusturbing.

Posted by: Rorschach | February 22, 2010 6:32 AM

Somehow SB seems to have garbled the post before and after, and current post title thingy up top.....All I see is dots.

As to the pic, looks like a hungarian Salami gone wrong, that thing !

Posted by: Rachel Bronwyn | February 22, 2010 7:53 AM

I really wish people would stop eating these, thinking they have an aphrodisic affect. Just leave them alone. They're not even tasty. Go eat something nutritious.

My boyfriend and I spent Valentine's Day at the local marine conservation facility, surrounded by many a sea cucumber (though none that length.) There's one in almost all of the research and display tanks. They're great for monitoring water quality. Soon as there's a change in the water, they let you know (without dying, I might add.)

Posted by: Ichthyic | February 22, 2010 8:21 AM

They're great for monitoring water quality.

being detritovores, they are also great for helping keep the bottom of the tank they are in clean, too.

Posted by: Blind Squirrel FCD | February 22, 2010 10:11 AM

being detritovores, they are also great for helping keep the bottom of the tank they are in clean, too.

BS

Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline. | February 22, 2010 12:04 PM

This is almost as bad as the snails.

Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites | February 22, 2010 12:57 PM

I really wish people would stop eating these, thinking they have an aphrodisic affect. Just leave them alone. They're not even tasty. Go eat something nutritious.

My boyfriend and I spent Valentine's Day at the local marine conservation facility, surrounded by many a sea cucumber

For the aphrodisiac affect?

(though none that length.)

Ah. Reassurance can work wonders on the psyche. ;)

Posted by: SebastesMan | February 22, 2010 3:20 PM

BlindSquirrel: Wow, I've played with these things and seen them slink around for months on a wet table and I've never seen them expel their guts. The defense mechanism is incredibly costly to the organism and is really only done as a last resort AFAIK.

Glen D: They have "catch collagen" in their skin, they can control the stiffness of their skin (which is never hard enough to pierce anything). One basic defense mechanism is to loosen this collagen and become soft and droopy. This can make them unattractive to some potential predators. Just hang one over your finger and watch it ooooooozzzzeee. It's pretty cool

Posted by: Qzl | February 22, 2010 8:42 PM

Can't say I've seen a sea cucumber that long. When i first saw the pic it twigged an ancient (and very well founded) childhood phobia of these nasty beasts:

http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/anth/collesi.html

- the White Stemmed Gum Moth caterpillar. Huge fat caterpillars that appear in massive swarms and have spines that sting and break off forming big painful blisters and triggering every allergy known to man, and they leave the spines sticking out of their cocoon where they remain hazardous for weeks after the moth has left. Mind you, I haven't seen one in about 30 years - I hope they're not extinct.

Posted by: tehmeeplet | February 23, 2010 2:02 AM

Back when I was a member of the Student Oceanography Club (through the Monterey Bay Aquarium) we got to touch one of these guys...they are ssooooo soft, and not pokey or tickly at all!