White Sea Cucumber

Appearance

Cylindrical, white or cream-colored cucumber about 4-10 cm long. The tube feet are restricted to ambulacra, forming a double row in each radius, strongly supported by skeletal elements and thus relatively rigid and nonretractile. The animal has ten branched, yellow oral tentacles: eight longer and two shorter ventral ones. Skin ossicles include abundant large, porous, oval-shaped ossicles plus smaller, delicate, basket-shaped ossicles.

Behavior

Sea cucumbers perform a behavior that is always startling to the human observer. When disturbed by a potential predator, they may eviscerate their tentacles and foregut into the water. This may startle and confuse the predator as well. However, there is also a seasonal component, and many White Sea Cucumbers in this area routinely eviscerate in the fall, even if not disturbed. The lost parts grow back within a few weeks.

Habitat

rocky areas in the middle intertidal zone and below

Reproduction

White Sea Cucumbers spawn in spring. The sexes are separate, and a large female can release over 100,000 tiny green eggs. After hatching, they go through several rather different-looking larval stages before settling out of the plankton as tiny cucumbers (perhaps should be called “sea pickles”).

Predators

Sea stars of several species are the major predators of these and other sea cucumbers.