Science News | Watch a sea cucumber deter a crab with a silky, stringlike substance | Science News @ScienceNewsMag | Uploaded April 2023 | Updated October 2024, 13 minutes ago.
When startled, some sea cucumbers shoot a silky substance from their rear ends. Analyzing the genome of the black sea cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota), seen in this video, is revealing how the tangle of tubules, called the Cuvierian organ, works as a defense against predators like crabs.
Read more: sciencenews.org/article/cuvierian-organ-sea-cucumber-defense-mechanism
Video: T. Chen et al/PNAS 2023