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Sea Cucumber- Holothuria pardalis

Sea cucumbers (Parastichopus califomicus) are flexible, cylindrical-bodied creatures which move sluggishly over the ocean floor, using their feeding tentacles to pick up food, These marine invertebrates are known as echinoderms, which means "spiny-skinned", and are close relatives of the sea urchin and sea star. The inside of their body walls have five muscle strips running from the front to the back. At the front end of the animal, the mouth is ringed by feeding tentacles.

One of the novel features of sea cucumbers is that many stop feeding in October or November and, when examined, are found to contain no intemal organs. Until recently, it was thought that they spontaneously expelled these body parts, but in fact, they simply "atrophy" or waste away. New intemal organs are regenerated in about six weeks. Why such organ losses occur is another mystery surrounding these interesting creatures.