Despite their common name of "sea cucumber," holothurians are not vegetables that turn into pickles when submerged in vinegar...but given their important role in the ocean ecosystem in terms of cycling nutrients, we love these marine animals just the same! Happy #NationalPickleDay! [Video: A tale of two cukes — sea cukes, that is! One sea cucumber gracefully swims through the water column. The other? Just chilling on the seafloor. Seen in the Gulf of Mexico.] | NOAA Ocean Exploration

This isn't some form of Ocean Plastic... its a Pyrosome. They are commonly known as "sea pickles". This is a free-flowing colony of hundreds or thousands of individual organisms called zooids. The whole colony is shaped like a giant thimble with a point on one end and an opening on the other, and in some species this opening can be up to 6 feet (2 meters) wide - large enough to fit a full grown human inside. Teledyne Bowtech Ltd Triton Submarines Global Sub Dive | Nekton

68K views · 46 reactions | Have you ever heard of a sea pickle?! | IFLScience | Facebook