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Pink Cucumber

July 15, 2007

This unusual sea cucumber, Enypniastes eximia, is a graceful, if slow, swimmer. While most sea cucumbers live almost exclusively on the ocean bottom, Enypniastes is one of a small group of swimming sea cucumbers, undulating the cape-like structure around its top to swim as much as several hundred feet above the sea bottom. Through the transparent body wall, you can see its intestine and other internal organs. Enypniastes also has bioluminescent organs on its skin, which may deter predators. (Photo by Laurence Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)