Little thorny cucumbers, some just an inch or slightly more in length, dotted the shore at Changi during my duck's ill-fated walk. Some were draped beneath clumps of seagrass with only their back ends peeking out. Others flopped on piles of seaweed, chilling in the cool night air. A few were languishing in tidal pools, caring not for their comrades but intent on their own nomrishment. A rosette of frilly tentacles unfurl from the mouth to sample suspended particles and planktonic life, which is captured and stuffed into the oral cavity for a finger-licking swipe.
The rows of long fleshy papillae on the holothurian's body are soft and harmless, and sticky tube feet on the underside of the body allow the animal to attach itself to rocks and other hard surfaces. Their candy pink shapes make for easy spotting against the deep green of the seagrass bed, in contrast to the dull coat of cousins who resemble organic extrusions or leprous parts and must toil in the substrate to make up for the loss of palatable kin prized and plundered for their purported priapic powers.
Comments