English: Sea cucumbers.
Name: Sea cucumbers are named for their resemblance to cucumbers.
Genera: 1717 species.
Region: worldwide; Pacific Asia.
Habitat: sea floor worldwide.
Use: human consumption, cultivated in aquaculture systems.
ZoologyHolothuroidea are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated, soft body containing a single, branched gonad.
They recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus and other organic matter after which bacteria can continue the degradation process.
Sea cucumbers have an endoskeleton just below the skin, calcified structures that are usually reduced to isolated microscopic ossicles, or sclerietes, joined by connective tissue. In some species these can sometimes be enlarged to flattened plates, forming an armour.
CladesAspidochirotida
DendrochirotidaElasipodida
Molpadida