Sea cucumbers are so much more than fat blobs. They might look like overfed slugs, but they are much more closely related to the sea stars, sea urchins, and the like. Today, we talk about a photo that confused me for months, sea cucumbers that look like glow-in-the dark aliens, and why these ecosystem engineers are so valuable.

👀 Read the article (+ references): https://katehildenbrand.com/sea-cucumbers-are-more-than-fat-blobs/ 👀

FOOTAGE: BBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Eyup8Jk3w BlueWorldTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlqa1mZ_5pM Crazy Creatures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBPbOrKiXnk Ellen Bonaire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTlmDhxAVbU NatGeo WILD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXf_YodWw40 NOAA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=703_j7OMyt8 SciNews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph9lEECUvNs

CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction 00:27 Cucumber basics 00:44 More like sea zucchini?! 01:16 Cucumber armor 01:31 Swimming funnels and aliens 02:29 More typical anatomy 03:00 Cucumbers doing it 03:40 Breathing through butts 03:49 Cucumber weapons 04:27 Cucumbers as hotels 05:00 Fishes in cucumber butts 06:13 Important ecosystem engineers