Sea Cucumber Poop

Recently, I was lucky to encounter a rare occurrence in the MLCD. While I have encountered sea cucumber “poop” before, until yesterday I had never actually caught one in the act!  Here is a rare photo of a sea cucumber (Actinopyga mauritiana) excreting. Sea cucumbers have an amazing ability to make beaded sand jewelry! Sea cucumbers are detritus feeders, meaning they eat non-living particulate matter. Most of their poop consists of sand.  Another interesting fact: this species has a toothed anus – yikes!

Sea cucumber beaded sand jewelry

anus teeth