Living Vacuum Cleaner

Look at these colour varieties. The same skin (it looks prickly but is relatively soft) but such a contrast of colour and pattern. Though I usually find cucumbers that are dark brown-red, covered with a layer of silt and overall blend with the surrounding environment, some individuals are of a bright colour and pattern and clearly visible from a distance. They feed on detritus that’s they serve as vacuum cleaners on the sea bottom.

Keywords: sea cucumber “sea cucumber” “Stichopus mollis” Stichopus mollis vacuum cleaner “vacuum cleaner” underwater undersea Pacific ocean temperate pattern skin echinoderm