Musings on a Sea Cucumber

A recent addition to our Puget Sound Salt Water Tide Pool is a rather lively California sea cumber. For an animal that often hides between rocks, our new echinoderm is a rambler. It may appear stationary, but check back later and – BOOM – it’s moved.

One day recently the sea cucumber was being threatened by a sea star and a thoughtful staff member covered it with a plastic “igloo”. We often use these igloos to protect sea anemones from guests’ probing fingers when the anemones are splitting. Very thoughtful. However, the sea cucumber’s flight instincts are a better protection than the igloo. So we decided to stop using the igloo.

This event inspired Life Sciences manager, Sarah Moore to pen the following rhyming directive:

What Else Rhymes with Sea Cucumber?


By orders of magnitude, we outnumber
Our California sea cucumber

Look – it’s brighter than burnt umber
Such a colorful sea cucumber

If it is sleeping let it slumber
Don’t disturb the sea cucumber

It may zoom or it may lumber
Sure can move, that sea cucumber

So with the igloo don’t encumber
The travels of the sea cucumber