Sea cucumbers: medicinal properties, recipes, photos. Holothurians or "sea cucumbers" (lat.

A fish called sea cucumber is also known under other names - holothurians, sea capsules. A class of invertebrates belonging to the echinoderms, among which edible species are known by another common name - trepangs. These deep-seated inhabitants spend their whole lives crawling along the bottom of the ocean or sea, preferring warm equatorial waters or waters close to them. The closest species relatives of the holothurian sea ​​urchins and stars.

Habitat

Some types of egg-pods are found near the shore, others at great depths. 6 orders are classified, numbering 1,150 species. The most ancient originated about 415 million years ago. At the bottom of the deepest Mariana Trench, scientists have discovered several species of these invertebrates. One of the favorite habitats chosen by sea cucumbers are coral reefs. Here is the largest population of bottom species, but there are also pelagic species - these are those that live in the water column, but they are a minority.

Holothurians live and migrate in colonies. At depths greater than 9 km, they make up 90% of all seabed fauna visible to the naked eye. The unpretentiousness to the habitat of these animals is amazing, so the great depth does not affect their species diversity. As unpretentious marine life as sea cucumbers, only porpoises can be called.

Some holothurians have "gelatinous" bodies that enhance buoyancy. Therefore, they are sometimes confused with jellyfish. However, they are not so transparent, but are colored black, brown, green or red. Sea cucumbers use their floating abilities to move to new habitats and during the breeding season. Only Pelagothuria natatrix is ​​recognized as a truly floating - pelagic species.

Among the "swimmers", subspecies of Elasipodida are distinguished by special abilities. They have a low body density plus umbrella-shaped swimming appendages that help to “hover” and maneuver in the water column at a kilometer height from the bottom. But for the most part, egg-pods are bottom or bottom animals.

Description and lifestyle

Holothurians are called sea cucumbers for their resemblance. A soft elongated body of a cylindrical shape, resembling a worm or a thick caterpillar. But there are also holothurians "sea apples" - spherical and serpentine varieties, reaching 3 m in length. The average body length of the sea pod varies from 3 cm to 1 m. The most gigantic species is Synapta maculate, reaching 5 m.

Sea-pods do not have teeth or other chewing devices. Around the mouth opening there is a row of tentacles from 10 to 30 pieces, through which the invertebrate draws water into itself and takes food from it. The concept of the back and abdomen for holothurians is relative, because they spend their whole lives on their side.

The lifestyle of a cucumber can hardly be called mobile. Most often it is a "couch potato" with a raised mouth end towards the surface, in anticipation of a new portion of plankton and organic remains. Some species are turned "head-mouth" down. They resemble vacuum cleaners that filter between the mouth tentacles covered with a sticky composition, the bottom layer of water and suspensions.

Depending on the main food, the egg capsule has a different shape of tentacles:

• plankton feeders have tree-like tentacles that filter water as much as possible;
• those consuming near-bottom suspensions have branched tentacles that filter a larger near-bottom substrate;
• those that search for food in the sand or muddy bottom have short, spatulate tentacles that help in digging up light or dense soil.

Ambulacral legs are located along the entire length of the body of the sea egg, performing the following functions:

• tactile;
• respiratory, forcing water enriched with oxygen into the body of the animal;
• motor, but only in certain species.

Much more often, egg capsules move not with the help of ambulacral legs, but due to the contractile muscles of the body.

In some areas of the tropical belt, the concentration of sea cucumbers reaches 35-45 individuals per 1 sq.m. The passive behavior of holothurians does not imply any aggressive actions in relation to other benthic inhabitants, as well as to their fellows. Having processed all the food on their site, they calmly move to a new one. The process of nutrition and vital activity of sea egg-pods has a beneficial effect on the processing of non-decomposing particles at the bottom of the world's oceans. Therefore, they are an important element of ecosystem utilization.

During the period of sexual activity, holothurians transmit signals to relatives by releasing hormones. Fertilization of the egg and the release of the embryo are more often external in these invertebrates, less often occurs inside the body. In some species, reproduction occurs by trapping a fertilized egg and attaching it to its outer wall. In the process of growth, holothurians undergo metamorphosis from egg to larva. The life span of an adult varies from 5 to 10 years.

Symbiotic unions

Shrimps of the species Periclimenes imperator live near sea cucumbers. They are located between the needles of the cucumber and spend their whole lives there.

Sea cucumbers are a strategic partner for pearl fish and fierasphere fish fry. Malek gets inside the body of the cucumber and lives in it all the time, finding food and shelter there at the same time. When the fish grows to adult size, it leaves the body of the holothurian.

Crabs, sea worms also use the body of the capsule as a shelter, settling inside. Mostly pea crabs. This "arrogant" behavior of the neighbors and the exploitation of the sea cucumber led to an interesting evolutionary twist. In some holothurians, special "barrier" teeth have developed in the anus, preventing the penetration of settlers through the anus.

Protection from predators

There are not many special gourmet lovers of bottom cucumbers among marine inhabitants. This is due to the fact that the body of the egg capsule contains the poisonous substance holothurin and a number of toxins that are unsafe for many predators.

Only large molluscs of the Barrel are considered a real delicacy of holothurians, which neutralize their prey with the help of their own paralyzing fluid. Then, soft internal tissues are sucked out from the immobilized victim.

Some fish feed on sea cucumbers, but only when no other food is available. Starfish, snails, crayfish, lobsters, crabs do not disdain the taste of sea cucumbers.

In order not to get into the mouth of a predator, the sea cucumber has one unique way of protecting itself. At the moment of danger, the holothurian performs a deceptive maneuver, which, besides disorienting the enemy, can also kill him. From the anus, the egg capsule throws out the Cuvier tubes - the poisonous part of the intestine. These tubes, when released into the water outside the body, swell greatly, distracting the predator from the prey. In addition, the poisonous substance holothurin enters the water, which, when mixed with water, forms a foamy substance and becomes even more harmful. Some animals and fish die if they come into contact with this poison or if it enters their respiratory system.

Interesting! The Cuvier tubules are an absolutely unique organ that is not found in any other animal on the planet. Visually, they resemble thin threads, and when in contact with sea water, they swell and become sticky. Threads envelop the body of an attacking predator. This is best achieved in the fight against crabs, which are not able to get out of the trap and die in natural "nets".

Such a tough protective manipulation, associated with the loss of part of the internal organs of the egg-pod, is relatively harmless to the life of the animal. And the body restores the lost parts in 1-5 weeks.

The poison emitted by holothurians was skillfully used by the natives of the Marshall Islands for their own purposes. Fishermen lowered a porous vessel with the entrails of trepangs into the reservoirs, the affected fish floated to the surface and went after being processed for the population's food. But at high concentrations, holothurin is also dangerous for humans. Therefore, diving in places where sea cucumbers accumulate without a protective eye mask is dangerous for a diver.

Medicine and pharmacology

The substances that make up the holothurian are highly valued by the Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Gamanat - golden cucumber has become the basis for some medicines. It is also used in cosmetology for the manufacture of creams, oils, decorative cosmetics.

Sterilized trepang meat is used in dietetics and in patients with a high degree of obesity. The balance of the mineral composition provokes the normalization of metabolic functions in the human body. They also lead to a decrease in tachycardia, restoration of the heart rhythm, acceleration of the regenerative functions of the body. In diseases in the joints, the use of trepangs helps to restore and build up interarticular tissue, and reduce pain in damaged areas.

Chinese pharmacists offer not only fresh, dried or dried holothurian meat, but also a concentrated extract to improve health and prolong life. According to them, it helps to strengthen the immune system, increase vitality, improve the general condition of the nervous and cardiovascular systems of the elderly. An additional effect of taking the extract, Chinese doctors highlight an increase in potency.

Interesting! In the imperial period of China, holothurians were a natural "medicine" to improve the male power of the ruler, exhausted by the attention of thousands of concubines. The second name "sea ginseng" was rightfully deserved by him. In case of special trust of the emperor or as a sign of special gratitude, close ministers and generals could receive a piece of delicacy as a gift. But it was forbidden to use them without control. It is unlikely that the fame of "sea ginseng" was unfounded, because the taste of sea cucumber is absolutely insipid and no seasonings can fix it.

Trepang meat contains high-quality protein, easily digestible minerals, including iodine, vitamins C, A, E, PP. It is used to normalize blood sugar levels and in iodine deficiency diseases of the thyroid gland.

In the blood of holothurians, almost 9% of the mass fractions of vanadium were found, which can be extracted from the body of an invertebrate. This feature of the blood cells of trepang makes it useful when eaten by patients with anemia, with impaired lipid balance or atherosclerosis of blood vessels.

sea ​​cucumber as food

Unappetizing at first glance, even repulsive to a European, the appearance of the jelly-like holothurian does not evoke such emotions among Asians. The Chinese even specialize in the industrial cultivation of trepang and cucumaria. The most surprising thing for a European is the use of these invertebrates in their raw form. However, it is more commonly consumed dried or cooked.

Sea cucumber fishing is most developed on the Pacific coast in Japan, China, on the coasts of the Malay Archipelago, the Russian Far Eastern District. The Chinese value sea cucumbers caught in Alaska very highly in terms of taste criteria. No matter how many trepangs are grown in artificial reservoirs, gourmets choose "wild" individuals. They are tastier, more satisfying and their nutritional value is higher. Poaching trapping of sea cucumbers coral reefs led to the extinction of some species and the violation of the ecological balance. Then the neighboring Pacific states took the path of introducing protective duties on the capture and sale of sea egg-pods. Now their capture has become an economically unpromising and unprofitable event, which has made it possible to restore the sea trepang population.

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With the light hand of marine biologists who studied the underwater life of the Caribbean, this deep-sea sea cucumber has received the name "headless chicken." Pink sea cucumber (lat. Enypniastes eximia), living at a depth of 500 meters to 5 kilometers, is really not too similar to other holothurians. The most beautiful and unusual of them all, the pink cucumber is found in all the oceans of the world, always staying close to the bottom or coral reefs.

With its transparent pinkish body, it looks more like a jellyfish than its elongated, rough and unattractive holothurian relatives. Elegantly flapping their transparent mantle as they move, the pink sea cucumbers, which also have the ability to bioluminesce, make an unforgettable impression. Their movements are smooth and graceful, like dance steps.

Thanks to the many transparent membranes located along the edges of the body, pink cucumbers are able to swim in the water column up to one kilometer, never rising to the surface of the water. The ability to swim for them is a guarantee of survival and the ability to move to more food-rich places.

Being professional filterers, pink cucumbers find their food both at the bottom and in the water column. The water, saturated with bottom sediments, pushed by the tentacles, immediately enters the intestines from the pharynx, and all the excess goes out through a small hole - the cloaca. In addition to bowel movements, the cloaca controls the processes of reproduction and respiration.

As a defense against predators, pink cucumbers use a rather unusual method. They shed their luminous skin, which, breaking up into small particles, sticks to the eyes and body of the offender. Losses of the skin are restored all in 3-4 days.

Holothuria, sea cucumbers class of echinoderms. Fossil skeletal plates of holothurians have been known since the Devonian. The body is mostly barrel-shaped or worm-shaped (from a few mm to 2 m long), in many with an external. appendages (tentacles, legs, papillae, sail, etc.), covered with soft skin containing microscopy. skeletal calcareous plates, or spicules, rarely completely covered with calcareous plates.

The mouth is at the anterior end of the body, surrounded by a corolla of tentacles. Many are able to throw out the insides (evisceration) or autotomize the back of the body with the subsequent regeneration of lost organs. 5 modern orders, about 1100 species, in the oceans and seas, everywhere; in Russia - about 100 species, mainly in the Far East. seas. Detritophages. They reproduce by throwing sexual products into the water; development with a floating larva (stages of auricularia and doliolaria). Some bear juveniles. Object of fishing and aquaculture (trepang). See fig. 14-16 at Art. Echinoderms.

Latin name Holothuroidea

At one time, the rumor about an unusually tasty food called or sea ​​cucumber flew around almost the whole world.

Today, the world production of these marine animals is more than 10,000 centners per year. You can also taste trepang dishes in our country. In specialized fish stores, they appear on sale from time to time, canned or dried. Those who are not yet addicted to outlandish delicacy and do not dare to buy these marine animals, similar to cucumbers with needles, and even a dirty black color, can try them ready-made, for example, in Moscow restaurants "Anchor", "Ocean", "Beijing".

Residents of the Far East do not need to travel across three seas in search of these animals. Echinoderms cucumbers live in the coastal waters of Primorye, South Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands. By the way, trepangs are officially called sea cucumbers, or sea pods. They belong to class of invertebrates , typeechinoderms (Holothuroidea). On the Soviet coast of the Far
East meets Far East trepang -sea ​​cucumber(Holothuria Stichopus japonicus), reaching 40 cm in length.

They live mainly at the bottom of the sea and are always half asleep: they move slowly, slowly eat plankton, and after spawning they freeze for a long time, falling into summer hibernation from July to September. One-year-old sea-pods are collected on sea shallows - weighing no more than 50 g. Adults, three- and four-year-old animals prefer great depths - up to 40 m.

The sea cucumber settles in calm coves and bays with a rocky-sandy bottom. It is not easy to get adults from there,
but the result is more tangible: a four-year-old individual is seven to eight times heavier than a baby, and the taste of its meat is better.

In the Far East, sea cucumbers have long been considered one of the most delicious and tender foodstuffs. And as familiar and beloved as mushrooms for the inhabitants of the middle lane. Connoisseurs of oriental dishes recognize sea cucumbers under any sauces and marinades, in dishes consisting of many components. The meat of these marine animals has one interesting feature: under the influence of sea cucumbers, some products acquire a peculiar piquant taste, while others, having lost their pronounced individual properties, appear in a completely new quality. The sea cucumbers themselves, in combination with other products, can endlessly change their taste characteristics. In the rich and original cuisine of the Chinese, Japanese, Malays and Filipinos, there is no worthy substitute for trepangs. They are eaten fresh and stored for future use: they are frozen, boiled, and then dried, or boiled, salted and then dried and, of course, canned - in their own juice, in oil, in tomato or with vegetables and seaweed.

Harvesting trepangs is not an easy task; you need to know when and how to get them. The nutritional value of sea cucumbers varies greatly depending on what time of the year they are caught. Drying is one of the best ways to harvest sea pods. Dry them in the open air or in artificial conditions at a low temperature. So that at this time the meat does not deteriorate and does not lose its taste, sea cucumbers are rolled in crushed charcoal. Therefore, dried trepangs look so unsightly that they often scare away ignorant buyers.

Trepangi - not only tasty, but also useful product: nourishing and healing. The meat of sea cucumbers contains valuable proteins, mineral salts of phosphorus, calcium, many trace elements and vitamins B, B2, B12 and C. (In addition, in it, as in
the meat of other marine animals contains organic iodine compounds; they are absorbed by the body much more fully than its inorganic compounds.) That is why Eastern healers have long advised those who are weakened by serious illnesses, severe nervous shocks and physical overload to eat trepang meat. Modern doctors also sometimes recommend sea cucumber food to sick people, for example, those who suffer from thyroid dysfunction, atherosclerosis, or certain cardiovascular diseases. The same doctors claim that sea capsules have a healing effect on a healthy body, increasing its protective functions. In addition, according to connoisseurs, food from sea cucumbers quickly relieves fatigue. It is not surprising, therefore, that in oriental medicine this organism is often referred to as sea ginseng...

What is the secret of the unusual ability of trepangs to be surprisingly combined with a wide variety of products? The fact is that trepangs do not have their own, pronounced taste. Sea cucumber resembles chicken scallops or butter, boiled without salt and spices. This is probably why the pulp of sea cucumbers, under the influence of other products, easily transforms itself and very subtly changes the taste of everything to which it is added. Some time ago, for the ready-to-cook food department, we prepared steaks to which we added a little trepang. It turned out the same, familiar minced meat, but more tender and juicy. In any dish, they are just an additive, they are always on the sidelines. And this does not depend on how much sea cucumber gets into one serving. For example, when cooking trepangs with chicken, they take only 75 g of meat, and trepangs -. 100 g, and yet trepang is considered an additive, and not vice versa

How do you feel about them, they always give me pleasure, is it very tasty with trepang dishes? and hearty food, and for all its satiety, it never causes the feeling that you have overeaten. And yet I will be objective. The famous sea cucumbers have a drawback (in my opinion, the only one): as they say, "did not come out face." You need either a certain habit, or a great interest in the exotic, in order to decide from the first time to add these strange gelatinous pieces with soft tubercles of needles to food. And a few years ago, when sea pods, black from charcoal, appeared on store shelves, many buyers bypassed this product. Those whose curiosity prevailed over prejudice, although they bought, did not know at all what to do with it. The phones in our restaurant rang incessantly then. And trepangs are not the only marine product that people know very little about. Therefore, I am a big supporter of the most active promotion of seafood.

How do restaurant visitors feel about their dishes?

In the restaurant, no one has to be agitated to eat sea pods. Despite the apparent lack of information about the product, more than a hundred visitors order sea cucumber dishes every day.

What place is reserved for trepangs in the restaurant menu?

A wide variety of food is prepared with them: hot and cold appetizers, first and second courses. It is trepangs, along with jellyfish, shrimps, young bamboo sprouts, as well as spices characteristic of the East, soybean and sesame oil, that make it possible to create a peculiar and, I would say, unique cuisine, which Peking has long been famous for,

Chinese or Japanese cuisine

Home Cooking Recipes

Despite the apparent simplicity of your request, it is unlikely that I will be able to fulfill it properly. National cuisine is considered national because the use of each product in it is deeply traditional. In our country, many ingredients that are used in China or Japan are not on sale. Even replacing Chinese allspice with all black allspice known to us will disrupt the taste “sound” of a particular dish. Or, for example, how to replace young bamboo sprouts? Inexpressive in taste, crispy, dense, not afraid of long cooking, they also give a special originality to food. There is nothing like it in our kitchen. Any arbitrary substitution will change the taste and appearance of the dish so much that it will not meet the standard, and then it cannot be considered a real oriental dish. Still, you can think of something...

Two dishes from the Beijing restaurant These two recipes were created by Yu. D. Zakharov on the basis of Chinese national cuisine. But first, about how to deal with black dried trepangs. The preparation of any dish of them begins with a thorough washing to remove the charcoal powder. Clean sea cucumbers should be soaked in cold water for 25-30 hours; water must be changed several times. An incision is made along the belly of the soaked trepang and the intestines are removed through it, then washed again well. After
this trepang is put to boil. Boil on low heat for 3-4 hours. Boiled sea pods are transparent and resemble sturgeon cartilage. Now they are ready for consumption.

Bouillon with sea cucumbers

First prepare chicken broth with onions, carrots and roots as usual. The chicken is then removed from the pot. Chicken meat is cut into slices and placed on plates. Sliced ​​boiled trepangs and slices of fresh cucumber are also placed there.
(usual); all this is poured with hot broth and served to the table.

For one serving you should take: chicken meat - 75 g, boiled sea cucumbers - 50 g, slices of fresh cucumber - 30 g.

Trepang with chicken and pork

Boiled trepangi and chicken meat (or pork) are cut into slices and placed in a pot or pan, after which they are poured with broth, to which salt and spices are added to taste: cinnamon, pepper, green parsley (or its root) and celery. The contents of the pot are allowed to boil. Starch diluted in cold water is poured into the boiling broth, then everything is brought to a boil again. As soon as the liquid thickens, the pan is removed from the heat. Before serving, add another 5 g of butter or vegetable oil to each plate. Oil should be dosed accurately, as they can fall apart from too much fat.

For one serving, you should take 100 g of boiled trepang and 75 g of meat.

And besides, they can be added to a variety of dishes at your discretion or simply cooked under mayonnaise, like hard-boiled eggs.

Gallery

Sea capsules, holothurians or sea cucumbers are called animals whose body, at the slightest touch, is strongly compressed, after which, in many forms, it becomes like an old capsule or cucumber. About 1100 species of sea-pods are known. The name "sea cucumbers" was given to these animals by Pliny, and the description of some species belongs to Aristotle.

Holothurians are interesting for their external features, bright coloration, amusing way of life and some habits, in addition, they are of considerable economic importance. Over 30 species and varieties of holothurians are used by humans for food. Edible holothurians, often called trepangs, have long been valued as a very nutritious and healing dish, so fishing for these animals has been practiced since ancient times.

The main trepang fisheries are concentrated mainly off the coast of Japan and China, in the waters of the Malay Archipelago, off the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean, near the Philippine Islands. Less significant trepang fisheries are carried out in the Indian Ocean, in the Red Sea, off the coast of America, Africa, Australia and Italy. In the Far Eastern seas, 2 species of edible holothurians (Stichopus japonicus and Cucumaria japonica) are harvested, which are used for the preparation of canned food and dried products. The musculoskeletal sac of holothurians, previously subjected to long-term processing by boiling, drying, and in some countries smoking, is more often used for food. Broths and stews are prepared from such semi-finished products. In Italy, fishermen eat fried holothurians without subjecting them to complex pre-processing.

Raw edible holothurians are used as food in Japan, where, after removing the entrails, they are cut into slices and seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. In addition to the skin-muscle sac, the inhabitants of Japan and the Pacific Islands use the intestines and gonads of edible holothurians, which are more valuable, for food. Some modern European firms make various canned food from holothurians, which are in great demand. The world harvest of Stichopus japonicus in 1981 amounted to 8098 million tons. In addition to fishing, breeding of holothurians is also practiced, in particular in our Far East.

Holothurians are rather large animals, the average size of which is from 10 to 40 cm. However, among them there are also dwarf species, barely reaching a few millimeters, and real giants, whose body length with a relatively small diameter - about 5 cm - can reach 2 m, and sometimes even 5 m. In terms of body shape, holothurians are very different from representatives of other classes of echinoderms. Most of them rather resemble large worms, but some species have an almost cylindrical or fusiform, and sometimes a spherical or somewhat flattened body, carrying various outgrowths on its back.

Despite this body shape, in holothurians one can almost always quite clearly distinguish between the dorsal and ventral sides, although their ventral side morphologically does not correspond to that of other bilaterally symmetrical animals. They actually crawl on their side, mouth end forward, so the names "abdominal" and "dorsal" sides are arbitrary, but quite justified. In many forms, the ventral side is more or less strongly flattened and adapted for crawling. The ventral side has 3 radii and 2 interradii, which is why it is often called the trivium, while the dorsal side, or bivium, consists of 2 radii and 3 interradii. The location of the legs on the body of sea-pods further enhances the difference between the dorsal and ventral sides, since the strongly contractile legs of the trivium, concentrated on the radii or sometimes found on the interradii, are equipped with suction cups and serve to move the animal, while the legs of the bivium often lose their motor function, lose suckers become thinner and already have sensitive functions. There is no separation of the head in holothurians, although in a number of forms, for example, in deep-sea representatives of the order of side-legged holothurians, one can notice some separation of the anterior end from the rest of the body, therefore it is sometimes called the head end.

The mouth, devoid of any devices for crushing food and closed by a near-oral sphincter, is located at the front end of the body or is slightly shifted to the ventral side; the anus is placed at the posterior end. In relatively few forms that burrow into mud or attach themselves to rocks, the mouth and anus move to the dorsal side, giving the animal a spherical, flask-shaped, or vaulted shape. Very characteristic of all holothurians are the tentacles surrounding the mouth, which are modified ambulacral legs. The number of tentacles ranges from 8 to 30, and their structure varies among representatives of different orders. The tentacles are tree-branched and relatively large, covering a large body of water when catching prey, or shorter, shield-shaped, resembling flowers and intended mainly for collecting nutrient material from the ground surface, or simple with a different number of finger-like processes, or pinnate, helping with burrowing. holothurians in the ground. All of them, like ambulacral legs, are connected with the channels of the aquifer system and are essential not only for nutrition, movement, but also for touch, and in some cases for breathing.

Another distinguishing feature of sea capsules is the presence of soft skin integuments in most forms. Only a few representatives of the orders of tree-tentacled holothurians and dactylochirotids have an external skeleton visible to the naked eye in the form of plates that fit tightly to each other and form a kind of shell. The skin skeleton of other holothurians consists of microscopic calcareous plates of a very bizarre and surprisingly beautiful shape.

Along with smooth plates containing a small number of holes, we can meet openwork "baskets", "glasses", "sticks", "buckles", "tennis rackets", "turrets", "crosses", "wheels", "anchors" . In addition to the skin of the body, calcareous plates can be found in the tentacles, perioral membrane, ambulacral legs, genitals. Only a few species lack calcareous plates, but for most species they are characteristic and play an important role in the determination.

The largest skeletal formation is located inside the body of the holothurian and surrounds the pharynx. The pharyngeal calcareous ring of holothurians is of various shapes: with or without processes, entire or mosaic, etc., but, as a rule, consists of 10 pieces, 5 of which correspond to the animal's radii, 5 to interradii. In a number of forms, the pharyngeal ring serves as an attachment site for five ribbon-like muscles (retractor muscles), which draw in the anterior end of the body along with the tentacles.

The spreading of the anterior end of the body and the extension of the tentacles is provided by the action of the other five ribbon-like muscles (protractor muscles) attached to the pharyngeal ring next to the retractors. The musculature of sea-pods is quite developed and enhances the strength of their integuments, the musculocutaneous sac consists of a layer of transverse muscles and five pairs of longitudinal muscle bands located along the radii.

With the help of such strong muscles, some holothurians move, burrow into the ground and strongly contract the body at the slightest irritation. The internal structure of sea-pods has already been considered when characterizing type A. One should, perhaps, only pay attention to a special protective device - Cuvier organs, which are available in certain groups of holothurians, and to special respiratory organs - water lungs. Cuvier's organs are developed in different representatives of the order of thyroid-tentacled holothurians. They are glandular tubular formations that flow into the expansion of the posterior intestine - the cloaca.

When the animal is irritated, they are able to be thrown out through the cloaca and stick to the irritating object. The water lungs, which are absent in side-legged and legless holothurians, are also connected to the cloaca by a common duct. They are two highly branched trunks located to the left and right of the cloaca and connected to the body wall and intestinal loops by very thin muscular and connective tissue cords. Water lungs can be brightly colored orange and occupy a significant part of the animal's body cavity.

The terminal lateral branches of the pulmonary trunks form thin-walled ampoule-shaped extensions, and quite often the left water lung is entangled in a network of blood vessels. The walls of the water lungs are equipped with highly developed muscles, the relaxation of which leads to the expansion of the lung cavity and the drawing in of sea water through the cloaca inward, and the contraction to the expulsion of water from the lung. Thus, due to the rhythmic contractions and relaxation of the cloaca and water lungs, sea water fills the smallest branches of the latter, and the oxygen dissolved in water penetrates through their thin walls into the fluid of the body cavity and is carried by it throughout the body. Very often, substances unnecessary to the body are excreted through the water lungs. The thin walls of the water lungs are easily torn, and amoebocytes loaded with decay products are brought out. Almost all holothurians have separate sexes, hermaphrodites are very rare among them, and most of them are in the detachment of legless holothurians.

Usually, in hermaphrodites, the gonads first produce male sex cells - spermatozoa, and then female - eggs; but there are species in which both male and female reproductive products develop simultaneously in the same gonad. For example, Labidoplax buskii (from the legless holothurians), living in the northern regions of the Atlantic Ocean, breeds off the coast of Sweden in autumn, from October to December. In her hermaphrodite gonad at this time of the year there are equally mature both female and male germ cells, but each holothurian first releases eggs into the water, and after a day or two - sperm, or vice versa.

The release of reproductive products into the water can occur at intervals and in small portions. Numerous observations have shown that holothurians sweep their sex products in the evening or at night. Apparently, darkness is an incentive for spawning. More often, reproduction occurs in spring or summer and is associated with temperature, but there are species in which mature reproductive products can be found throughout the year, but their maximum development, for example, in Holothuria tubulosa, is observed in August or September. The timing of spawning is different not only for different species, but also for the same species, if it has a large range.

So, the sea cucumber Cucumaria frondosa, which is very often found in the Barents and Kara Seas, breeds in these seas in June - July, and off the coast of Great Britain and Norway in February - March. Usually, the reproductive products are released into the water, where the eggs are fertilized and develop. After their crushing, a free-swimming larva of auricularia is formed. Many auricularia are relatively large in size - from 4 to 15 mm. In a number of holothurians, the larvae, before becoming similar to an adult organism, go through another barrel-shaped larval stage - the doliolaria, and then the last larval stage, called the pentactula.

However, not all holothurians develop in this way. Now more than 30 species of sea egg-pods are known, which take care of their offspring and bear juveniles. In such species, which are distributed mainly in cold waters, the free-swimming larval stage is lost and the eggs develop either due to a large amount of yolk, or receiving nutrition directly from the mother's body. In the simplest case, eggs and juveniles develop on the surface of the mother's body, for example, under the protection of overgrown skeletal plates, or in swollen skin ridges on the back, or simply attached to the crawling sole. Further changes led to the formation of skin depressions, internal brood chambers protruding into the secondary body cavity, and in a number of branched-tentacled and legless holothurians, to the development of juveniles to late stages directly in the body cavity of the female. In all these cases, the sex of holothurians is easily distinguishable, while usually it is almost impossible to do so.

Giant sea cucumber

Half-meter holothurians, which lead a predominantly immobile lifestyle and even are permanent dwellings for some small inhabitants of the seabed, can pump up to 800 milliliters of water every hour. The organism of these animals filters out oxygen from other components of sea water and saturates their cells with it.

Dr. William Jaeckle (William Jaeckle) from Illinois Wesleyan University and Richard Strathmann (Richard Strathmann) from the University of Washington decided to study these amazing creatures in more detail.

They found that the system of blood vessels that connects the respiratory sacs to the intestines (the so-called rete mirabile), is not designed to transport oxygen to the intestines. From a scientific point of view, it would be more logical to assume that this structure is needed to transfer food from the anus to the intestines, and not vice versa, as is usually the case in animals. Zoologists decided to test their hypothesis.

To confirm their hypothesis, the researchers fed several giant sea cucumbers radioactive algae that contained iron particles. With this trick, the team was able to trace the entire path that food takes through the body of the echinoderm. In addition, radioactive particles accumulate in the part of the body where the hole is located through which the creatures eat.

The results of the study showed that holothurians feed mainly through the mouth. But a high concentration of radioactive particles and iron has also been observed in the rete mirabile structure, which proves the use of the anus as a second mouth by sea cucumbers. It turns out that the anus in these creatures performs three vital functions: respiratory, nutritional and excretory.

Scientists say that studying only one type of sea cucumber does not mean that only they use a bipolar method of nutrition. Later, zoologists intend to study other types of echinoderms.

The results of the study were published in the March issue of the journal Invertebrate Biology.

Among the numerous species of holothurians, trepang and cucumaria are the most valuable for fishing. Trepang and cucumaria have similarities in body structure and chemical composition of meat. Trepang contains biologically valuable substances (stimulants), for which in the East it is called the sea root of life (ginseng) and is widely recommended for those suffering from a decline in physical strength and increased fatigue. Eating trepang helps to strengthen the nervous system. Trepang fishing is carried out in spring and autumn only in the Far East. The harvested trepangs are cut at the place of fishing - the abdomen is cut and the insides are removed. The peeled sea cucumbers are washed and boiled for 2-3 hours until the meat becomes soft, after which it is used to prepare culinary dishes.

Skoblyanka with trepang in tomato sauce.

Boiled trepangs cut into small pieces and fry in oil with onions, flour and tomato paste. Mix everything, put in a saucepan, add a little water and boil for 10-15 minutes over low heat.

400 g trepangs, 3/4 cup oil, 3 onions, 4-5 tablespoons of tomato paste, 2 tbsp. spoons of flour, 4 tbsp. tablespoons of water, salt to taste.

Trepangi fried with onions.
Chop the trepangs and onions and fry separately, then mix, add spices and serve hot to the table. Sprinkle green onions on top.
400 g sea cucumbers, 2 onions, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon allspice, 100 g green onions, salt to taste.

Stewed trepangs.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and put the boiled sea cucumbers cut into pieces, simmer for 3 minutes. Add milk, salt, pepper and bring almost to a boil. Serve garnished with red pepper.
250 g trepangs, 4 tbsp. spoons of margarine or vegetable oil, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of milk, black pepper, red pepper, salt to taste.

Trepangs with vegetables.

Boiled trepang cut into pieces and fry. Chop fresh cabbage, chop vegetables (potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes) and mix with trepangs, put in a saucepan and simmer over low heat until vegetables are ready.
300 g sea cucumber, 1/4 fork fresh white cabbage, 3-4 pcs. potatoes, 1-2 carrots, 1-2 zucchini, 1 cup oil, 2-3 tomatoes or 2 tbsp. spoons of tomato paste, pepper, sugar, salt to taste.

Trepangi stewed with chicken.

Put the boiled trepangi in a bowl with boiled or fried chicken, season with the prepared sauce and simmer over low heat until tender.
200-300 g trepangs, 1/2 chicken. For sauce: 1-2 tbsp. spoons of tomato puree, 1 tbsp. spoon of 3% vinegar, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of wine (port or Madeira), 2-3 tbsp. spoons butter, 1/2 cup meat broth.

Trepangs with horseradish.

Boiled trepangs are cut into slices. Vinegar is diluted with water, grated horseradish, salt, sugar are added and brought to a boil. Then boiled, chopped slices of sea cucumber are poured. The dish is served cold.
Boiled trepangs 70, table vinegar 40, grated horseradish 10, sugar 2, salt

Peel the trepang, pour boiling water over it. After about 1 minute, drain the water, cut the sea cucumber into pieces.
Sauce: soy sauce 2 tbsp, garlic 3 cloves (squeeze out), mayonnaise 1 tbsp. Mix all. Very tasty.

Salad with trepang.
Boiled trepangs are cut into small pieces, boiled potatoes - into cubes, put green peas, chopped egg, add lemon juice, salt. All products are mixed, then seasoned with mayonnaise and decorated with green salad and an egg.
Boiled trepang 80, potatoes 80, egg 0.5 pcs., green peas 40, mayonnaise sauce 40, lemon juice, salt.

Crayfish, crabs in the sea. They can be explored and described for an infinite amount of time. Ocean scientists never cease to be amazed at their new discoveries.

Some inhabitants live right before our eyes, even under our feet. They hunt, feed, breed. And there are species that go far into the depths, where there is no light and, it would seem, no life.

The most incredible creature that we will now meet is trepang, aka holothuria, aka nautical cucumber. Outwardly, it looks like a very lazy, overfed, huge worm.

This is a creature that has been living for many millions of years in the expanses of water and has survived more than one historical period. Its name - sea cucumber, he received from the philosopher from Rome, Pliny. And, for the first time, several of its species have already been described by Aristotle.

Benefits of Sea Cucumber Meat for health, so it is very popular in cooking that you even have to breed them in pools. Cooks fry them, dry them, preserve them, freeze them.

Pickled and added to salads. When cooking holothurian meat, culinary experts advise adding a lot of spices, it has the ability to absorb all smells and tastes as much as possible.

Interestingly, the nutritional value of meat, during heat treatment, does not deteriorate. The Japanese generally eat sea ​​cucumber - cucumaria, exclusively raw, after marinating for five minutes in soy sauce with garlic.

Considering the flesh of holothuria, a panacea for all diseases. Sea cucumbers are filled with macro and microelements, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. More than thirty chemical elements from the Mindileev table.

Its meat contains the largest number of useful components, like no other inhabitant of the deep sea, and it is absolutely disinfected, viruses, bacteria and microbes are not familiar to him.

Also, in the sixteenth century, information about unique healing properties of sea cucumber. Now it is used in the pharmaceutical industry. For medical purposes, especially in Japan and China.

The inhabitants of these countries call trepang - ginseng, extracted from the sea. This is a natural component for the full recovery of the human body after serious illnesses, complex surgical interventions.

Helps regenerate human tissue. Improves heart function, normalizes blood pressure. Stimulates the work of the gastrointestinal tract. Also, sea cucumber has certain components that help in the treatment of joints.

Still, incredible, but true, this animal has the ability to regenerate. This is the likeness of a Phoenix bird, only sea. Even if he has less than half of his body left, after a while, it will already be a full-fledged animal. But such a recovery will take a lot of time, up to half a year or more.

O scripture and features of the sea cucumber

Who is this nautical cucumber? it echinoderm, an invertebrate mollusk that lives only in marine waters. Its closest relatives are the starfish and the sea urchin.

With his appearance, he is a natural silkworm caterpillar, slowly and freely crawling along the seabed. Dark marsh, brown, almost black, sometimes scarlet. Depending on where they live, their colors change.

For example, on the river, sandy bottom, you can even meet blue sea cucumbers. Body sizes are different. Some species are half a centimeter long. And there are fifty centimeter individuals. The average size of a mollusk, like a matchbox, is five, six centimeters wide, and up to twenty cm long. It weighs almost one kilogram.

In an awake, calm state, the sea cucumber almost always lies on its side. On its lower part of the body, called the belly, there is a mouth, strewn with suction cups around the entire circumference. With the help of them, the animal feeds.

As if vacuuming from the bottom everything that you can profit from. These suckers can be up to thirty pieces. All trepang skin is densely covered with limescale. On the back there are pimply formations with small light spines. They have legs that grow along the entire length of the body, in rows.

The body of the sea cucumber has another unique ability to change its density. He becomes hard as a stone, in case he feels life-threatening. And can be very resilient if he needs to crawl under some rock for cover.

Lifestyle and habitat

Trepangs are called types of sea cucumbers living in the northern part of the Kuriles, the central territories in China and Japan, in southern Sakhalin. On the territory of Russia there are more than a hundred varieties.

Sea cucumbers are animals living at a depth of not more than twenty meters. All the time they lie at the bottom. In their life they move very little.

Trepangs live only in salt water. Fresh water is destructive for them. They love still water and muddy bottoms. So that in case of danger you can dig into it. Or stick to some stone.

When an echinoderm is attacked by an enemy, the animal may split into several parts in flight. Over time, these parts, of course, will recover.

Since these animals do not have lungs, they breathe through the anus. Pumping in water, filtering out oxygen. Some specimens can pump through themselves up to seven hundred liters of water in one hour. Similarly, sea cucumbers use the anus as a second mouth.

They are calm about temperature fluctuations, and minor minuses do not affect their vital activity in any way. They also have a positive attitude towards high temperatures in reservoirs.

Even if some mollusk freezes in ice and is gradually warmed up, it will move away and continue to live on. These animals live in large flocks, forming whole canvases of individuals at the bottom.

Sea cucumber nutrition

Trepangs are those animals that collect and eat all the decaying carrion that is at the bottom. Sea cucumber in the hunt for plankton, along the way collects all the silt and sand that comes across on the way. Then he passes it all through himself. Therefore, its insides are half of the soil.

The poisoned, so-called food, comes out through the anal. Given the fact that you will not be fed up with sand, a sea cucumber has to absorb a huge amount of land in a day. In just one year of their life, these mollusks pass through themselves up to forty kilograms of sand and silt. And in the spring their appetite doubles.

Holothurians have sensitive receptors, with the help of which they accurately determine the amount of food at the bottom of the sea. And if the prey is hidden deep in the sand, the sea cucumber will feel it and will dig into the ground until it catches food. And when he feels that there is not enough food, he quickly runs over the tops and collects dead remains.

Reproduction and lifespan of sea cucumber

By the third year of their life, sea cucumbers are already sexually mature and ready to breed. According to them appearance it is difficult to understand which of them is male and which is female. But they are different animals.

The mating season begins in late spring and lasts all summer. But there are also species in which the spawning period can occur at any time of the year. Having broken up into pairs, the mollusks get closer to the shore on a hill, or crawl onto stones, or onto lying mussels.

When mating has already taken place, the hind legs are suckers, they are attached to some surface, and raise their heads up. In such a curved position, they begin to spawn.

This procedure takes up to three days. And what is remarkable, in the dark. In one year, a female holothurian can lay over fifty million eggs. These individuals are very prolific.

At the end, exhausted animals crawl into their chosen shelter, and hibernate for almost two months. After sleeping and resting, trepangs have a brutal appetite, and they begin to eat everything in a row.

In the third week of life, in fry, a semblance of suckers appears around the mouth opening. With their help, they stick to marine vegetation and then grow and develop on it.

And many types of sea cucumbers - females, bear cubs on their backs, throwing them to themselves with their tails. Even the cubs begin to grow pimples on the back, and small legs on the belly.

The fry grows up, its body increases, the number of legs is added. He is already becoming like his parents, a mini worm. In the first year, they reach small sizes, up to five centimeters. By the end of the second year, they grow twice as large, and already look like a young, adult individual. Holothurians live eight, ten years.

Currently you can buy sea cucumber no problem. There are entire aquarium farms for their cultivation. Expensive fish restaurants order whole batches to their kitchens. Yes, and rummaging on the Internet, you will easily get what you want.