its got a wonderful defense mechanism
"its got a wonderful defense mechanism.. you don't dare kill it"
- Parker, Ship Engineer, to Ash, Ship Science officer, aboard the Nostromo as the alien facehugger bleeds its acid blood.
Nature often comes up with ingenious ways to defend itself. Take the bombardier beetle for example; when threatened, it mixes a noxious soup of chemicals that react and explode from its backside in a high pressured, high velocity 212F blast of death - that usually encourages most predators to look for an easier meal.
So there should be other creatures that do the same thing, right?
Enter the humble sea cucumber. Here we can see one putting out its mouth appendages to sweep in food to its mouth. This ground mucking, detritus sweeping echinoderm is often seen gracing chinese dishes, a delicacy as it is considered. So how many people have actually seen them alive and thrashing?
Today i took my biodiversity class down to Sentosa for a field trip. Among other things (which i will get to), i chanced upon two black cukes going about their normal buisness. And since the class was around, i decided to show them natural defence 101: How creatures come up with ingenious ways of avoiding becoming dinner.
The cuke isnt exactly the fastest of sprinters, so it cant outrun even the slowest snail. And such a boneless, fat, juicy roll of meat is sure to be eaten to extinction, wouldnt it?
Enter defence mechanism 1:
The sc if under a rock, jams itself into any crevice by inflating itself with water. It becomes very turgid and cant be pried away that easily. This is actually possible by its unique body structure. The cuke possesses a very peculiar 'bone structure'; consisting of trillions of tiny particles in fluid state floating ard its body, allowing it to move lie well a bag of water. But on command, it can actually pump itself full of water and tighten its ossicles to interlock, thus becoming very rigid. Jamming itself under the rock, enemies can't really get to it.
- Parker, Ship Engineer, to Ash, Ship Science officer, aboard the Nostromo as the alien facehugger bleeds its acid blood.
Nature often comes up with ingenious ways to defend itself. Take the bombardier beetle for example; when threatened, it mixes a noxious soup of chemicals that react and explode from its backside in a high pressured, high velocity 212F blast of death - that usually encourages most predators to look for an easier meal.
So there should be other creatures that do the same thing, right?
Enter the humble sea cucumber. Here we can see one putting out its mouth appendages to sweep in food to its mouth. This ground mucking, detritus sweeping echinoderm is often seen gracing chinese dishes, a delicacy as it is considered. So how many people have actually seen them alive and thrashing?
Today i took my biodiversity class down to Sentosa for a field trip. Among other things (which i will get to), i chanced upon two black cukes going about their normal buisness. And since the class was around, i decided to show them natural defence 101: How creatures come up with ingenious ways of avoiding becoming dinner.
The cuke isnt exactly the fastest of sprinters, so it cant outrun even the slowest snail. And such a boneless, fat, juicy roll of meat is sure to be eaten to extinction, wouldnt it?
Enter defence mechanism 1:
The sc if under a rock, jams itself into any crevice by inflating itself with water. It becomes very turgid and cant be pried away that easily. This is actually possible by its unique body structure. The cuke possesses a very peculiar 'bone structure'; consisting of trillions of tiny particles in fluid state floating ard its body, allowing it to move lie well a bag of water. But on command, it can actually pump itself full of water and tighten its ossicles to interlock, thus becoming very rigid. Jamming itself under the rock, enemies can't really get to it.
If that still dosent work...
Enter defence mechanism 2:
It spews.
(i somehow can't manage to imbed the video; so you'll have to go to the link here. Anyone can advise on this??)
PLEASE, DO NOT TRY THIS ON YOUR OWN. Some cukes are toxic and their spew can give you a rash. Also, it is highly stressful for them. I did this for the benefit of the entire class; so please, don't go doing it if you intend to, ok?
Now back to the juicy part. What you actually see is, as i agitate the cuke, it compacts and becomes turgid. still persistant? it starts 'peeing' water. Still persistant? It starts hurling out white sticky threads (Cuvierian tubules) that entangles its would-be predator. Guys don't laugh. you've seen this before, haven't you? Should i further agitate it, the cuke will actually spew its guts, respiratory tract and other non essential organs. Even its gonads =). This provides a meal for the predator while it crawls away.
While this seems insane, spewing actually dosent kill the cuke; it now has less innards to take care of, and its metabolism can afford to drop. In fact, in periods of stress and overcrowding, cukes have been known to spew just so they don't need to eat so much to upkeep themselves. A very 'modular' system don't you think? The cuke then regrows its innards quickly, and becomes as it was.
Here is a clip on how the cuke feeds. Note how it extends its appendages and sweeps em back.
Here is a clip on an octopus CUTE AS HELL which i caught. Ockys are really smart, and are the houdinis of the sea. Had the hardest time trying to catch this guy.
The ocky is released.
Blue Sponge.
Soft Coral. Just like the hard ones, except lacking the hard CaCo3 shell. Hence it looks.. flaccid.
Algae growing on a sponge.
A marine spider. These guys are tiderunners, hunting for fish with their huge fangs. 
homo nussies on the beach.
the last shot before we left. Note the seagrass; they've started to flower.
posted by YC @ 10:36 pm
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