Sea-Cucumber

a marine animal related not distantly to the sea-anemone, starfish, and sea-urchin. In external appearance the cucumber looks like a fat worm, but the skeleton of the starfish is represented by a tough, muscular body wall, in the skin of which scales, plates, wheels, and anchors of lime are scattered. The sea-cucumber feeds on minute animals and organic particles extracted from the sand. A repulsive species inhabits the coral reefs of Malaysia. The stout, worm-like individuals attain a length of six to twenty-four inches. The bodies are slit and dried for food. Under the commercial name of trepang, large quantities are imported to the markets of the Chinese, by whom a bowl of trepang soup is regarded as a luxury.