Sea cucumber

Distribution : Mediterranean

Marine region

For more than a century, Greek fishers have used the brown sea cucumber as bait in longline fishing. Pieces of its thick body wall are placed on the hooks. You discover a Mediterranean use quite different from the trade in dried sea cucumbers for food: here, the animal was collected to help catch other marine species.

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Habitat

Sand, Seagrass meadow

Depth

1-50 m

Group

Role

Decomposer

Average size

25 cm

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

The brown sea cucumber (Holothuria (Holothuria) tubulosa) has an elongated, cylindrical brown body. Reddish or violet tinges may shade the background colour.

The papillae, the large skin bumps, are dark and vary in pointedness. They have no white ends, a useful detail when comparing it with the black sea cucumber.

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WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
WHAT DOES IT EAT?
HOW DOES IT REPRODUCE?
OUR OBSERVATIONS
ARTICLE

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Advanced navigation between description, ecological context, observations and behaviour
Interactive food chain to explore the species’ feeding relationships
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