Because Echinoderms are cool too...

Apparently there's a deep dwelling sea cucumber thing called a 'sea pig' (class Holothuroidea). It looks like something from an alternate universe:

Go read more about it on The Echinoblog! (via The Artful Amoeba)

Now I wonder if that thing has some cool protistan symbionts or parasite to share with us. I wish they actually reported more on microbial diversity in those deep sea explorations... although considering how surreal and obscure some of the bigger things are, it'll probably take some time before we zoom in...

[insert lame pork-related puns here]


PS: On a slightly related note, if anyone needs to satisfy a craving for pretty pictures, just came across a database/gallery of marine organisms of the Pacific Northwest. There's some bizzare and colourful life outside my cage campus...

(http://www.elasmodiver.com/BCML%20cnidaria.htm)
I think this nudibranch got covered in some marine plasmodial slime mould* fruiting bodies!


*Do those exist at all? I guess a fruiting body would be a rather pointless structure in water...