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Cotton spinner

Cotton spinner by Coral Smith

Cotton spinner

Enw gwyddonol: Holothuria forskali
Although they might not look it, sea cucumbers like this one belong to the Echinoderm group and are therefore closely related to starfish and sea urchins

Species information

Category

Ystadegau

Up to 25cm long.

Statws cadwraethol

Common.

Pryd i'w gweld

April - October.

Ynghylch

The cotton spinner has short tentacles, unlike other species which have long, feathery tentacles, which means they like to sift through the mud and sand to find food, rather than gathering it from the water column.

Sut i'w hadnabod

Cylindrical body up to 25cm long, black on the upper half of the body and yellow on the lower half. Covered all over the top half in black spikes and spines and underside covered in sticky tube feet.

Dosbarthiad

Found off South west and west Britain.

Habitats

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

When threatened, this sea cucumber fires out sticky white threads from its rear end!

Sut y gall bobl helpu

Always follow the Seashore Code when rockpooling, be careful to leave everything as you found it - replace any rocks you turn over, put back any crabs or fish and ensure not to scrape anything off its rocky home.