Sea cucumber, the organism responsible for the cleanliness of seawater.
Sea cucumber
The organism responsible for the cleanliness of sea water, the sea cucumber, many may not take into consideration the importance of simple and small sea creatures like the “sea cucumber”, despite its eye-catching shape and structure.
However, this simple organism is of great importance to the marine environment, as it works as an important factor in purifying sea water and contributing to maintaining its purity.
Sea cucumber looks similar to a regular cucumber, which is why it is called this name. It is a simple organism that lives in the seas and oceans, and is considered a natural filter system that contributes to the purification of marine water.
Sea cucumbers are found in abundance in the Red Sea, which is what makes its waters exceptionally pure and clear.
Dr. Mahmoud Hanafi, professor of marine sciences at Suez Canal University, says that sea cucumbers play a very important role in purifying sea water.
Studies indicate that this simple organism is able to feed on organic waste in the water and remove small particles of organic matter that could disturb the purity of the water.
The sea cucumber performs this process by absorbing particles inside itself and using them as a food source, then excreting the waste, which is sand.
Sea cucumber
In addition to purifying water, sea cucumbers help stir up the soil off the sea coast. It can also feed on the larvae of spiny starfish, which is one of the most dangerous marine organisms on coral reefs. This means that the presence of sea cucumbers contributes to limiting the spread of this harmful organism.
Regarding the benefits of sea cucumber, it is used in many medical products, including treatments for joints and rheumatic diseases, and it is considered a nutritional supplement and sexual enhancer.
However, sea cucumber faces threats due to rumors about its medicinal benefits. Interest in fishing has increased, excessively and illegally, which can ultimately lead to a negative impact on the sea environment and coral reefs.
In short, the sea cucumber is a simple organism that plays a vital role in the health and purity of the Red Sea environment. In order to preserve this rich and beautiful marine environment, humans must pay attention to protecting this organism and maintaining the balance of the ecosystem in the Red Sea and other oceans and seas around the world.
:The importance of sea cucumbers to the marine environment
The sea cucumber is considered the first friend of the environment, as it plays an important role in the ecosystem and plays an important role in the process of environmental balance between the various species and species in the marine environment. Its role is represented in the following:
1- It feeds on organic materials scattered in the sediments through a process called phagocytosis, where it takes the sediments and the organic materials that contain them, digests its nutritional needs from them, and then expels the waste, which is sand that is saturated with nutritional salts, which helps in the growth of algae and marine plants, which are spread abundantly in gathering places. Sea cucumber animals.
2- The animal filters the water, which is saturated with various suspended materials, including the larvae of other types of marine animals, such as starfish and the like, which limits their spread in an epidemic way that may affect or lead to the destruction of the marine ecosystem, as in the case of the spread of the spiny starfish and its cause of damage. Coral reefs.
3- Sea cucumber eggs and larvae are considered good food for some types of fish and other invertebrates.
4- It carries out the process of stirring the bottom soil in the tidal range, where it suctions and swallows sand, gravel and clay, digests what it needs of them in a time period estimated at eleven hours, and expels the waste. These stirring processes in the tidal range affect the subsurface sediments and cause a change in the fine formations. It has been found that the genus Stichopus moves between 500 and 1000 tons of subsoil sediments per year in an area of 1.7 square miles. As for the genus H.atra, the researchers reported that it swallows 3.93 grams per day, which means The gatherings of this animal may be responsible for shifting 4,600 kilograms of sediment per year per thousand square metres, especially in places where there is a lot of human activity, such as bulldozing, backfilling, sewage, and so on.
5- It maintains the alkalinity of the water, as it reduces the pH value in the water that comes out of the animal as a result of vital processes within the animal. This is why it is important in preserving the environmental environment in the marine environment in order to preserve the rest of the other animals. It has been proven from laboratory experiments that the pH of the water content for animals 6.6 and 7.3 with an average of 6.96.
6- The most important role of cucumbers in the marine environment is its ability to separate petroleum pollutants from the surrounding water, collect them in vesicles inside the animal’s body, and transform them into denser forms that can be deposited and separate with bottom sediments.
7- Some types of small fish clean the back hole (anus) of the sea cucumber and feed on the remains and waste of the animal. Also, some small worms have a relationship with the sea cucumber, especially on the skin, as these worms clean the skin from the outside of the nutrients that are beneficial to it.
On the other hand, the unguided exploitation of many organisms in the marine system has caused severe damage to them and pushed many of them into the category of endangered species, as overfishing of sea cucumbers, which live at varying depths of water, has led to the disappearance of many species.
This is a matter that poses a threat to the biological balance system within the water because of its main role in protecting coral reefs from the danger of pollutants, as it purifies the water from them. What raises concern is what some specialized opinions confirm, which is that it takes more than 50 years for sea cucumbers to return to their natural levels. .
Other interesting information about sea cucumbers:
Perhaps one of the most surprising things about sea cucumbers is that they are animals, not plants.
There are about 1,500 species of sea cucumbers and they come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. They can range from less than an inch to several feet in length.
A sea cucumber has a mouth at one end and an anus at the other. Surrounding the mouth is a ring of tentacles (tube feet). These claws collect food particles. Some sea cucumbers are filter feeders but many get their food from the ocean floor.
Although sea cucumbers have five rows of tube feet, they move very slowly, if at all.
Sea cucumbers breathe through a respiratory tree connected to the anus.
The respiratory tree is located within the body on either side of the intestine and connects to the cloaca. Sea cucumbers breathe by drawing in oxygenated water through their anus. Water enters the respiratory tree and oxygen is transferred to the fluids within the body cavity.
Sea cucumbers live in a wide range of habitats, from shallow coastal areas to the deep sea. They are found in all oceans around the world.
Sea cucumbers are harvested for use in food and medicine. Sea cucumbers contain connective tissue, which seems to magically transform from being tough to elastic in just seconds. This aspect of sea cucumber is being studied for its potential application to the health and repair of human tendons and ligaments.
These animals are considered a delicacy in some areas and are especially popular in Asian countries. However, unregulated sea cucumber fishing has caused a decline in some areas.
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