Take a break from the madness of #blackfriday2018 & marvel at these swimming sea cucumbers, seen during recent #Okeanos expedition: https://t.co/HneVxh2JiI pic.twitter.com/MEYO9OKmQb
— NOAA Ocean Explorer (@oceanexplorer) November 23, 2018
From by Dr. Chris Mah, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, November 7, 2018, and posted at OceanExplorer. (check Dr. Mah on his blog, Echinoblog, and on Twitter @echinoblog).
The swimming sea cucumber, Enypniastes eximia, sometimes referred to as the “headless chicken monster,” is a widespread species present in the abyss. It is encountered widely around the world with records from the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Atlantic, East Atlantic, New Zealand, and the Southern Ocean (Antarctica). The scientific name Enypniastes was assigned to this animal in 1882 and means “dreamer;” it was taken from Genesis 37:19 of the Septuagint: “… Behold, that dreamer comes.”
