Echinodermata · echinoderms

Headless chicken monster

Enypniastes eximia

Pelagothuriidae · swimming sea cucumbersIUCN: Not evaluated
Headless chicken monster
Photo: Image courtesy of Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · resized

A swimming deep-sea cucumber, transparent pink-red.

Fun factIt swims off the seafloor to escape predators.

Waters
Worldwide
Depth zone
Deep sea & continental slope
Diet
Organic matter in sediment
Size
Up to 25 cm

Classification

Echinodermata › Holothuroidea › Pelagothuriidae

  1. Kingdom Animalia animals
    • Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
    • Cells have no cell walls
    • Most can move at some stage of life
  2. Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
    • Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
    • Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
    • Includes about 99% of all living animal species
  3. Clade Deuterostomia deuterostomes
    • In the embryo, the first opening becomes the anus and the mouth forms second
    • Includes echinoderms and chordates
  4. Phylum Echinodermata echinoderms
    • Adults usually have five-part radial symmetry
    • Water-vascular system powers tiny tube feet
    • Skeleton of limestone plates (ossicles) in the skin
  5. Class Holothuroidea sea cucumbers
    • Sea cucumbers: soft, sausage-shaped bodies with skeleton reduced to tiny plates
    • Ring of feeding tentacles around the mouth
    • Many can throw out their guts to defend themselves
  6. Family Pelagothuriidae swimming sea cucumbers
    • Swimming sea cucumbers that can lift off the seafloor
  7. Genus Enypniastes
    • Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
  8. Species Enypniastes eximia Headless chicken monster

Closest relatives in the guide