Echinoderm · sea cucumber

Kolga sea cucumber

Kolga hyalina

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic Found in 2 oceans

Depth

About 2,500 to 4,000 m in the Arctic basins

Size

Up to about 5 cm

Diet

Debris-rich mud, clumps of sea-ice algae that have fallen to the bottom

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• Its skin is translucent.
• It eats clumps of sea-ice algae (Melosira arctica) that sink all the way to the bottom, more than 3,000 m down.
• Up to 40% of the individuals observed were sitting on these algal mats.
• It can swim just above the bottom to reach food.

Verified sources

1. Rybakova et al. 2019, Deep-sea megabenthos communities of the Eurasian Central Arctic (PLOS ONE, préprint bioRxiv)
2. Nature 1883, compte rendu de la Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition (Holothurioidea)
3. Gutt & Piepenburg 1991, MEPS (citant Billett & Hansen 1982)

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Sea strawberryGersemia rubiformis Spoonarm octopusBathypolypus arcticus Warty bobtail squidRossia palpebrosa Arctic skateAmblyraja hyperborea Arctic seep threadwormSclerolinum contortum Ten-legged sea spiderDecolopoda australis