CATDOLL : CATDOLL: Is a sea cucumber an animal?

Is sea cucumber a plant or an animal?

Sea cucumber is the name given to it by the ancient Chinese. "Its nature is warm and nourishing; it is as strong as ginseng", hence the name. Sea cucumber is an echinoderm that grows on the rocks at the bottom of the ocean or among seaweeds. It is also known as sea cucumber and sand cucumber. There are more than 800 species of sea cucumbers, but only more than 20 species are edible. The varieties of sea cucumbers vary from place to place. my country's Xisha Islands and Hainan Island are rich in plum blossom sea cucumbers and black yuan sea cucumbers; Fujian and Zhejiang produce soap sea cucumbers and light sea cucumbers. The only seafood in the north is sea cucumbers, which is a more precious variety of edible sea cucumbers.

Observing the appearance of live sea cucumbers in an aquarium, they are quite ugly. Their slender and round bodies are full of flesh and flesh, and their surface is covered with things like meat thorns. No wonder people call them "sea cucumbers". Sea cucumbers are not good-looking, but their survival history is surprising. They appeared earlier than primitive fish and began to exist in the Precambrian period more than 600 million years ago. After paleontologists conducted systematic research on the bone fragments of sea cucumbers, they have become an important basis for paleontologists to divide strata and study paleogeology, and even become a standard fossil of the Pauli period. More than a decade ago, Chinese paleontologists discovered bone fragments of sea cucumbers in the Permian strata (more than 200 million years ago) in Huaying Mountain, Sichuan and Changxing, Zhejiang.

Sea cucumbers live deep in the sea and cannot swim. They crawl on the seabed using their tube feet and muscles. They crawl very slowly, and can only walk less than 3 meters in an hour. They are born without eyes, and have no sharp weapons to scare the enemy. So, how have they survived for millions of years in the ocean world where the strong prey on the weak?

Unusual dormancy period

As we all know, some animals on land, such as snakes, bats, frogs, and spiny bears, have the habit of hibernation. In the cold winter, the water is cold and the grass is dry, making it difficult to find food. They have no choice but to hide in their nests and rely on the nutrients in their bodies to survive. Sea cucumbers, on the other hand, do the opposite and choose to hibernate in the summer when food is abundant. Take sea cucumbers, for example. When the water temperature is adjusted to 20℃, they quietly move to the dark place in the deep sea, hiding at the bottom of the stone with their back facing down. They sleep for three or four months, during which time they do not eat or move, and their whole body shrinks and hardens. They will not wake up until autumn to resume activities. Strange, why do sea cucumbers hibernate in the summer?

Oceanographers explain that sea cucumbers usually feed on small organisms, and these small organisms are very sensitive to the temperature of the seawater. When the sea surface is warm, they swim upstream, and when the water is cold, they dive back to the bottom of the sea to live. After the summer, the sea surface is warm, and the small organisms living in the sea go to the upper waters for their annual reproduction, but the sea cucumbers living on the bottom of the sea have no ability to follow them. Forced by the lack of food, they have to hide under the rocks to rest and maintain themselves.

Special magical self-defense technique

Faced with the dangerous seabed environment and various cruel and cunning enemies, sea cucumbers protect themselves in a special form of struggle. When the wind blows and the waves surge, the sea cucumbers that are not firmly attached will be dragged into danger. But sea cucumbers can predict the weather. When a storm is about to come, they hide in the cracks of the rocks. When fishermen find that the sea cucumbers are missing from the seabed, they know that a storm is coming and they quickly collect their nets and return home.

Sea cucumbers can change their body color, just like shrimps, depending on the environment they live in. Sea cucumbers living near reefs are brown or light blue, while sea cucumbers living in kelp and seaweed are green. The changing body color of sea cucumbers can effectively avoid harm from natural enemies.

Despite this, sea cucumbers cannot avoid some special attacks, so they have developed a special set of survival and self-defense skills. When the insidious and cunning sea cucumbers and greedy and vicious sharks attack them with greed, the alert sea cucumbers quickly eject the sticky and long intestines and branch-like aqualung in the body cavity, giving the powerful enemies a full meal, and they escape without a trace with the recoil of excreting the internal organs. Of course, the empty shell of the sea cucumber without internal organs will not die. After about 50 days, it will grow a new set of internal organs and appear in the large family of marine organisms with its original ugly appearance. In addition to the trick of excreting internal organs to confuse the enemy, sea cucumbers also have the function of "cloning" like starfish. Cut the sea cucumber into several sections and throw it into the sea. After 3-8 months, each section will grow into a complete living sea cucumber. Some sea cucumbers also have the ability to cut themselves. When the sea cucumber feels that the external environment is not suitable, it can cut itself into several sections, and each section will grow into a new individual. When fishermen catch sea cucumbers, if they do not add salt or alum in time to process them, they will dissolve into a pool of water.

A puzzling phenomenon

The sea cucumber's ability to adapt to ecological and environmental changes and avoid harm is amazing, but two strange phenomena occurring in its body are puzzling.

Sea cucumbers and glittering fish live in harmony. This glittering fish, also known as diving fish, is small and smooth,...

Is sea cucumber an animal or a plant?

Sea cucumber is an animal. It belongs to the class Holothuroidea. It is a marine echinoderm that lives at seaside to 8,000 meters. It has a history of more than 600 million years. Sea cucumbers feed on seabed algae and plankton. Sea cucumbers are covered with thorns and are widely distributed in the world's oceans. There are many species along the coast of the South China Sea in my country, and there are about 20 kinds of sea cucumbers available for consumption. Sea cucumbers are as famous as ginseng, bird's nests, and shark fins, and are one of the eight treasures in the world. Sea cucumbers are not only precious food, but also precious medicinal materials. According to the "Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica", sea cucumbers are sweet and salty, nourish the kidneys, benefit the essence, take urine, strengthen yang and treat impotence. They are warm and nourishing, and are better than ginseng, so they are called sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers have the effects of improving memory, delaying gonadal aging, preventing arteriosclerosis and anti-tumor. With the popularization of knowledge about the value of sea cucumbers, sea cucumbers have gradually entered the people's dining table. The living environment determines the quality of sea cucumbers.

Is sea cucumber an animal or a plant?

Hello! Sea cucumbers are relatively primitive aquatic animals, mainly living in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, on the seabed reefs, and they can hibernate in winter and summer. The sea cucumbers you see in the market are mostly salted or dried in sugar, and you can see live ones in some areas of the hotel. Their sizes vary greatly, you can look at their pictures online.

What kind of animal is sea cucumber?

Any of about 1,100 species of invertebrates in the class Holothuroidea or Holothuroidea of ​​the phylum Echinodermata. Edible sea cucumbers include species of the genera Holothuria, Stichopus, and Thelonota.

What type of animal is sea cucumber

Sea cucumbers in China include all animals called "sea sweet potatoes" or dried sea cucumbers. In a narrow sense, it refers to the genus Holothuria. Holothuria is the largest genus of the class Holothuria, including more than 120 species. It is a general term for 1,100 invertebrates of the class Holothuria of the phylum Echinodermata. It is divided into two categories. According to whether there are conical thorn-like tubercles on the back of the sea cucumber, it is divided into two major categories: "sea cucumbers" and "light cucumbers". Among them, "sea cucumbers" are mainly species of the family Stichopus, and "light cucumbers" are mainly species of the family Holothuria, Cucurbitaceae and Cucumis.

What category do sea cucumbers belong to?

Holothuria

The sea cucumber commonly referred to in China includes all animals called "sea cucumbers" or refers to dried sea cucumbers. In a narrow sense, it only refers to the genus Holothuria. The genus Holothuria is the largest genus in the class Holothuria, including more than 120 species. This product belongs to the phylum Echinodermata, class Holothuria, genus Holothuria.

A general term for 1,100 species of invertebrates in the class Holothuroidea or Holothuroidea of ​​the phylum Echinodermata. The body is cylindrical and soft. It is 2 to 200 cm (about 0.75 to 6.5 in) long, 1 to 20 cm (0.4 to 8 in) thick, and dark in color. It has many fleshy spines. The internal skeleton has degenerated into tiny bone plates. Many species have 5 rows of tube feet from the mouth to the anus. The anus is used for both breathing and excretion of waste. There are 10 or more retractable tentacles around the mouth, which are used for hunting or digging holes. Many species can release internal organs from the anus and then regenerate new ones, probably to escape from enemies. There are often symbiotic cryptofish of the genus Carapus in the cloaca. Many of them can release toxins that are deadly to small animals, but are not life-threatening to humans. Island residents in the South China Sea put sea cucumber juice into the water to kill or paralyze fish. Sea cucumbers are edible, such as species of the genera Holothuria, Stichopus, and Thelonota. They are found in all oceans, mostly in shallow waters, but sometimes in deep waters. They are mainly found in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. The 80 to 100 species of Holothuria are mostly found in coral reefs.

Morphological characteristics:

The body is cylindrical, 10 to 20 cm long, and the largest can reach 30 cm. The tentacles are wheel-shaped, 17 to 30 in number, usually 20 in number. The tentacle sac is well developed. The mouth is at the front end, mostly on the ventral side. The *** is at the back end, mostly on the dorsal side. There are usually papillae on the dorsal side and tube feet on the ventral side.

Distribution and living environment:

China produces more than 30 species in the South China Sea alone, most of which are found in the Xisha Islands. Sea cucumbers are common in tropical and subtropical oceans, and there are particularly many species that live in coral reefs in the Indo-West Pacific region. Some are active, some are hidden, some burrow into the sand, and some species are only found in coral reefs. Feeding is often rhythmic. They live on the seabed at a depth of 2 to 40 meters; they adapt to water temperatures of 0℃ to 28℃ and salinity of 28‰ to 31‰; they hibernate when the water temperature is higher than 20℃; their food is mainly animal and plant debris and benthic diatoms in mud and sand; their breeding period is from June to July; they have a strong regeneration ability.

other:

Sea cucumbers crawl by stretching and contracting their muscles, and can only move forward four meters per hour. When sea cucumbers are attacked by enemies and cannot escape, they rapidly contract their bodies and throw their internal organs from their bodies to the enemies. After losing their internal organs, sea cucumbers will grow them back after a few weeks of growth.

Nutritional analysis

1. Sea cucumbers are low in cholesterol and relatively low in fat. They are typical high-protein, low-fat, low-cholesterol foods. They are a good food therapy for patients with hypertension, coronary heart disease, hepatitis, and the elderly. Regular consumption is very beneficial for curing diseases and strengthening the body.

2. Sea cucumbers contain chondroitin sulfate, which helps human growth and development, delays muscle aging, and enhances the body's immunity;

3. The content of trace element vanadium in sea cucumber ranks first among all foods, which can participate in the transportation of iron in the blood and enhance the hematopoietic function;

4. Recently, American researchers have extracted a special substance from sea cucumbers - sea cucumber toxin. This compound can effectively inhibit the growth and metastasis of many fungi and certain human cancer cells;

5. Eating sea cucumbers is effective for aplastic anemia, diabetes, gastric ulcers, etc.

Suitable for people

It can be eaten by the general public.

1. Suitable for people with weakness, insufficient qi and blood, malnutrition, and physical weakness after illness or childbirth; suitable for people with insufficient kidney yang, impotence and spermatorrhea, and frequent urination; suitable for people with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, and arteriosclerosis; suitable for cancer patients and those after radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery; suitable for patients with hepatitis, nephritis, diabetes, ascites due to liver cirrhosis, and neurasthenia; suitable for hemophilia patients and people who are prone to bleeding; suitable for the elderly and weak;

2. Suffering from acute enteritis, bacillary dysentery, cold, sputum, asthma, loose stools, bleeding with stasis and edema...

Is sea cucumber an animal?

Sea cucumber is the name given to it by the ancient Chinese. "Its nature is warm and nourishing; it is as strong as ginseng", hence the name. Sea cucumber is an echinoderm that grows on the rocks at the bottom of the ocean or among seaweeds. It is also known as sea cucumber and sand cucumber. There are more than 800 species of sea cucumbers, but only more than 20 species are edible. The varieties of sea cucumbers vary from place to place. my country's Xisha Islands and Hainan Island are rich in plum blossom sea cucumbers and black yuan sea cucumbers; Fujian and Zhejiang produce soap sea cucumbers and light sea cucumbers. The only seafood in the north is sea cucumbers, which is a more precious variety of edible sea cucumbers.

Observing the appearance of live sea cucumbers in an aquarium, they are quite ugly. Their slender and round bodies are full of flesh and fleshy things. It is no wonder that people call them "sea cucumbers". Sea cucumbers are not good-looking, but their survival history is surprising. They appeared earlier than primitive fish and began to exist in the Precambrian period more than 600 million years ago. After paleontologists conducted systematic research on the bone fragments of sea cucumbers, it has become an important basis for paleontologists to divide strata and study paleogeology, and even a standard fossil of the Pauli period. More than a decade ago, Chinese paleontologists discovered bone fragments of sea cucumbers in the Permian (more than 200 million years ago) strata in Huaying Mountain, Sichuan and Changxing, Zhejiang.

Sea cucumbers live deep in the sea and cannot swim. They crawl on the seabed using their tube feet and muscles. They crawl very slowly, and can only walk less than 3 meters in an hour. They are born without eyes, and have no sharp weapons to scare the enemy. So, how have they survived for millions of years in the ocean world where the strong prey on the weak?

Unusual dormancy period

As we all know, some animals on land, such as snakes, bats, frogs, and spiny bears, have the habit of hibernation. In the cold winter, the water is cold and the grass is dry, making it difficult to find food. They have no choice but to hide in their nests and rely on the nutrients in their bodies to survive. Sea cucumbers, on the other hand, do the opposite and choose to hibernate in the summer when food is abundant. Take sea cucumbers, for example. When the water temperature is adjusted to 20℃, they quietly move to the dark place in the deep sea, hiding at the bottom of the stone with their back facing down. They sleep for three or four months, during which time they do not eat or move, and their whole body shrinks and hardens. They will not wake up until autumn to resume activities. Strange, why do sea cucumbers hibernate in the summer?

Oceanographers explain that sea cucumbers usually feed on small organisms, and these small organisms are very sensitive to the temperature of the seawater. When the sea surface is warm, they swim upstream, and when the water is cold, they dive back to the bottom of the sea. After the summer, the sea surface is warm, and the small organisms living in the sea go to the upper waters for their annual reproduction, but the sea cucumbers living on the bottom of the sea have no ability to follow them. Forced by the lack of food, they have to hide under the rocks to rest and maintain themselves.

Special magical self-defense technique

Faced with the dangerous seabed environment and various cruel and cunning enemies, sea cucumbers protect themselves in a special form of struggle. When the wind blows and the waves surge, the sea cucumbers that are not firmly attached will be dragged into danger. But sea cucumbers can predict the weather. When a storm is about to come, they hide in the cracks of the rocks. When fishermen find that the sea cucumbers are missing from the seabed, they know that a storm is coming and they quickly collect their nets and return home.

Sea cucumbers can change their body color, just like shrimps, depending on the environment they live in. Sea cucumbers living near rocks are brown or light blue, while sea cucumbers living in kelp and seaweed are green. The changing body color of sea cucumbers can effectively avoid harm from natural enemies.

Despite this, sea cucumbers cannot avoid some special attacks, so they have developed a special set of survival and self-defense skills. When the insidious and cunning sea cucumbers and greedy and vicious sharks attack them with greed, the alert sea cucumbers quickly eject the sticky and long intestines and branch-like aqualung in the body cavity, giving the powerful enemies a full meal, and they escape without a trace with the help of the recoil of excreting the internal organs. Of course, the empty shell of the sea cucumber without internal organs will not die. After about 50 days, it will grow a new set of internal organs and appear in the large family of marine organisms with its original ugly appearance. In addition to the trick of excreting internal organs to confuse the enemy, sea cucumbers also have the function of "cloning" like starfish. Cut the sea cucumber into several sections and throw it into the sea. After 3-8 months, each section will grow into a complete living sea cucumber. Some sea cucumbers also have the ability to cut themselves. When the sea cucumber feels that the external environment is not suitable, it can cut itself into several sections, and each section will grow into a new individual. When fishermen catch sea cucumbers, if they do not add salt or alum in time to process them, they will dissolve into a pool of water.

A puzzling phenomenon

The sea cucumber's ability to adapt to ecological and environmental changes and avoid harm is amazing, but two strange phenomena occurring in its body are puzzling.

Sea cucumbers and gliders live in harmony. This glider, also known as a diving fish, is small and smooth and often burrows into the body cavity of sea cucumbers...