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December 12, 2021: Sea Cucumber

This sea cucumber was seen during Dive 11 of the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration while we conducted the deepest dive of the expedition on a site about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Key West, Florida.

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. Download larger version (jpg, 735 KB).

Deep-sea swimming sea cucumbers (Pelagothuriidae) are sometimes seen on the seafloor and sometimes in the water column. This one was seen during Dive 11 of the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration while we conducted the deepest dive of the expedition on a site about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Key West, Florida. Due to its semi-transparent body, we can see its intestine, which is filled with sand from which it extracts its nutrients.