Sea cucumber

Outline

• When threatened, it ejects its internal organs (e.g., intestines, respiratory tree) to distract predators—a process called evisceration

• Later regenerates the lost organs, often within weeks

• In some regions, sea cucumbers are served as food, and their special survival strategy and regenerative property inadvertently helps cooks to process offal

• A valuable system for studying organ regeneration, immune responses, and tissue remodeling