And here you thought you were done reading about sea cucumber butts. Regardless of the habits of the adults, the larvae of pearlfish are free-living among the plankton. The number of holothurian (/ ˌ h ɒ l ə ˈ θj ʊər i ə n, ˌ h oʊ-/) species worldwide is about 1,717 with the greatest number being in the Asia Pacific region. As the sea cucumber pumps water in and out to breathe, the fish slowly but surely wiggle their way inside. Image: John E. Randall. Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea.They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad.Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. 6) Sea cucumbers range in size, the smallest species can be as small as 0.12 inches while … Pearlfish seek out the cloacal opening of the host and then work their way INTO the anus sometimes head first or sometimes tail first, working themselves backwards into the anus of the sea cucumber. The sea cucumber is host to the parasitic pearlfish The Fierasfer, or Carapus is a small, eel-like pearlfish which actually lives most of its life as a parasite inside the body of a sea cucumber. They are elongated, scaleless, and often transparent. Pearlfish, also called fierasfer, or cucumber fish, any of about 32 species of slim, eel-shaped marine fishes of the family Carapidae noted for living in the bodies of sea cucumbers, pearl oysters, starfishes, and other invertebrates.Pearlfishes are primarily tropical and are found around the world, mainly in shallow water. Pearlfish usually like to live alone inside a sea cucumber, but sometimes a pair will take up residence in the same host. Pearlfish usually live alone, or in pairs. However, some species are known to be parasitic on sea cucumbers, eating their gonads and living in their anal pores. 4) Sea cucumbers are nocturnal, meaning they are active during the night. One very special case, discovered in 1977 by New Zealand biologist Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow from Jacobs University in Germany, saw no less than 15 pearlfish living inside a single sea cucumber’s anus. This latter tail … Below 15,000 feet, they make up 90 percent of life on the seafloor. Several species of parasitic pearlfish actually live inside sea cucumber bums. Scientists say that the pearlfish will enter the sea cucumber’s teeth ridden anus to find shelter or to enter with another pearlfish as a place to mate. It feeds on some of the internal organs of its host, but does not kill the sea cucumber because it can re-grow the parts that are eaten. 5) Most sea cucumbers are adapted to life on the seafloor, and although the number of species is high in shallow seas, they are also abundant in deep oceans. D) Sea cucumbers are into butt stuff. Ouch. But, this isn’t even about sex. Relationship: Commensalism "The pearlfish uses the sea cucumber for a hide-out from predators.The pearlfish will live in the sea cucumber’s anus, backing into … C) When you’re prey like the pearlfish, ya gotta do whatever it takes to stay alive. The pearlfish will either simply take up space inside the sea cucumber, or it will actually eat the sea cucumbers, well, private parts. The pearlfish is a long, slim fish.They have no scales but they do have long fins that run along the length of their bodies. After smelling their way to an ideal host, the pearlfish swims head-first into the void. I’d previously written about how the Animal Kingdom exhibit the Museum of Sex turned my world upside down and inside out. Sea cucumbers use this structure to extract oxygen. 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