September 14, 2020: Sea Cucumber
Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2018. Download larger version (jpg, 197 KB).
A spectacular shot of a swimming sea cucumber, or holothurian, seen during the Gulf of Mexico 2018 expedition.
During the expedition, we encountered many sea cucumbers that not only swim, but rise, sink, and hover. These behaviors suggest that some species are specially adapted to manage their buoyancy (the force that allows something to float, sink, or remain neutral in a liquid) remarkably well.
Wonder how they do it? Read this mission log, complete with video from the Gulf of Mexico 2018 expedition: “Flight of the Sea Cucumbers.”