The animal that shoots its own guts at attackers
When this animal gets scared, it fires its own guts out of its body at whatever is attacking it.
The short version
The sea cucumber defends itself by violently ejecting its sticky, toxic internal organs out of its rear to trap predators, then crawls away and regrows every organ within weeks. Some species even breathe through their back end.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Sea Cucumber shoots its own sticky internal organs out of its rear at attackers.
- ✓The Sea Cucumber regrows every organ it threw away within a few weeks, good as new.
- ✓The Sea Cucumber uses ejected guts that are tangled and toxic to trap a predator while it crawls away.
- ✓The Sea Cucumber is a soft, squishy tube that crawls along the ocean floor.
- ✓The Sea Cucumber can breathe through its back end.
The full story
When this animal gets scared, it fires its own guts out of its body at whatever is attacking it. Meet the sea cucumber, a soft, squishy tube that crawls along the ocean floor. It looks completely harmless, and honestly it mostly is, until something tries to eat it. Then it pulls off one of the strangest defenses in all of nature. It violently contracts its body and ejects its sticky internal organs straight out of its rear end. Those organs are tangled, toxic, and almost impossible to escape, trapping the predator while the cucumber quietly crawls away. And here is the wild part. It does not die. Over the next few weeks, it simply regrows every single organ it threw away, good as new. Some species can even breathe through that same back end. A living tube that weaponizes its own insides. Follow for more weird animal facts.
Watch the 45-second version
Sea Cucumber gallery
