Sea Cucumbers

We are sea cucumbers, not 🥒, but holothurians, a group of echinoderms. We tweet holothurian scientific research & diversity to ⬆️ awareness of our awesomeness😃

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

I am a fish that lives in a butt. It's a comfy, protected place. As many as 14 of my friends are also here!

My landlord is leopard🐆 sea cucumber🥒. When I get hungry, I eat my landlord's gonads. Does my landlord benefit?🤔

What kind of fish am I?

#dailycuke
#WednesdayWisdom

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

#fridayfeeling leavin work today like... SEE YA!! sea cucumber #dailycuke

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

#dailycuke Synapta maculata, the snake 🐍 sea🥒. Yes the name fits, since I can grow up to 3 meters (10👣) long & am one of the longest documented sea🥒 species. Along this great length I can split into pieces & regenerate (autotomy), making many more🥒🥒. 👀 feathered tentacles!

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

#Iamthenight I am Stichopus chloronotus, black knobby sea🥒. I roam benthic seas of the Indo-Pacific. I don't need sex to reproduce: Thru transverse fission ONE individual becomes TWO. 🤔 about that! Regeneration is a hallmark of echinoderms & I take it to the extreme. #dailycuke

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

👀 #dailycuke Bohadschia argus, or the leopard🐆 sea🥒. I'm adorned w conspicuous brown or white spots. I defend myself by pushing out thin, white tubes from my BUTT. These will irritate your skin, but likely exude a molecule called Arguside A that can stop tumors from growing!😃

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

Hey! #dailycuke Parastichopus parvimensis here. People call me warty but whatever. I roam at night in benthic Baja California. I use 10 big tentacles to shovel food in my mouth. Sadly no Baja tacos tho. I'm a research cuke & my genome is sequenced. So I've got that going for me!!

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

CRIKEY!! Steve Irwin would have enjoyed this AMAZING ANIMAL. Happy Birthday to a legend. We miss you.

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

Hey there, I'm Pearsonothuria graeffei, your #dailycuke, walking around w my tentacles chillin on some coral. Thing is, I eat this coral; so when I have to 💩, I prefer to 💩 on dead coral. I'm smart true story. Echinosides in my body wall are used as painkiller & antitumor drugs

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

btw 👀 at my larval stage amazing right? We evolved Batesian mimicry: our colour & shape look like a highly toxic animal in our locale. Our larvae mimic Phyllidia varicosa (a sea slug), which fish avoid due to its toxicity. Fish avoid us now too! Which is me & which is Phyllidia?

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

Holothurin is a triterpenoid compound found in body walls of many sea🥒 & is toxic to many fishes. Pacific Islanders simply drop fresh portions of sea🥒 in shallow waters to kill fish. Holothurin exhibits potent anticancer activity in human carcinoma cells https://t.co/fytblE5uA4

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

Medical reports from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 BCE) refer to sea cucumber🥒 as ocean ginseng or "haishen" due to shared medical outcomes between treating patients w ginseng or extracts from sea🥒. Many bioactive compounds have been found in sea🥒

Mmm! https://t.co/Lzd3tvoVlP

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

#dailycuke I'm sea🥒 Abyssocucumis abyssorum. Some people are judgy: They call me "ugly" "maggot" horrible things really. I roam the benthos under da sea. Yea I eat detritus, falling dead matter of all sorts, but that doesn't make me BAD. Come on. Check me out! Pls ❤️ me

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

"The universal use of the microscope by paleontological observers will result in the discovery of anchor-shaped spicules & wheels of [sea cukes🥒] in the more modern..formations which compose the Earth's crust"

Right you were, Henry Alleyne Nicholson (1879)

We are everywhere!

[Sea Cucumbers @holothuroids]

Hi there, I'm an elasipodid holothurian Pelagothuria natatrix. I've been mistaken for jellyfish, but I'm a sea🥒. My tube feet are heavily modified & act as sails so I kick it in the open seas. My bioluminescent skills make it look like I shoot lasers. So I got that going for me!