What is this guy

[DiverDownD3]

Just getting into photography and took a picture of this guy on the Caribsea in NC a few weeks ago. Can anyone ID it? I've tried looking it up and can't figure it out

 

[RyanT]

It's a sea cucumber, what species, I don't know. It is an echinoderm, so t's related to starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars.

 

[Steve_C]

They are fairly common in NC. I do not know if several species or just varied colors but I have seen them all the way from speckled like you to blotchy to mostly brown to a dark purple (once earlier this year)

 

[Pearlman]

And no .. you cannot make a salad out of it ...

 

[Wookie]

And no .. you cannot make a salad out of it ...

You could, I guess. Some cultures do.

 

[MichaelMc]

A Chinese restaurant here had it on the menu, expensive.

 

[Doctorfish]

I was served sea cucumber at a banquet in China.
It tasted kinda like boiled elastic bands and had the same consistency. Ugh!

 

[kelemvor]

I was served sea cucumber at a banquet in China.
It tasted kinda like boiled elastic bands and had the same consistency. Ugh!

I'll stick with our Americanized versions of Chinese foods.

 

[Doctorfish]

Getting off topic but overall, I very much enjoyed the food in China, far better than American/Chinese. Sea cucumber, however,was not to my taste. Better, IMO, to leave them in the ocean.

 

[DocVikingo]

It's a sea cucumber, what species, I don't know. It is an echinoderm, so t's related to starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars.

Possibly not yet fully mature chocolate chip cucumber (isostichopus badionotus).

Regards,.

DocVikingo