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July 20, 2021: Sea Cucumber
While exploring Perdido Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2018, we imaged this sea cucumber on the seafloor. Its nearly transparent body provided a good view of the animal’s internal organs, mainly the gut which was full of consumed sediment. The sea cucumber will extract nutrients from the sediment before eliminating the excess as a fecal trace.
Credit

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Gulf of Mexico 2018.