Phylum: Echinodermata

Class: Holothurioidea

 

Norwegian: sjøpølser

(Storsteinan - The Trondheim Fjord / 14 meters / 9.11.2004)

So where did the spines go? The relationship with the other echinoderms is perhaps not that obvious. In stead of a protecting shell, the sea cucumbers only have small shell fragments in the skin.

Five double rows of tube feet run from the mouth along the elongated, cylindrical body. The food is processed in a channel running from the mouth in one end to the anus in the other end of the body. Sea cucumbers feed on decaying animals or plants found on the seabed. Some live partially buried in the sea floor.