US EditionSea cucumbers wash ashore by the thousands in a coastal Oregon town
Thousands of sea cucumbers washed ashore due to heavy surf and low tide, providing nutrients for local invertebrates, with such events occurring a few times yearly, experts said.
- On Tuesday, Tiffany Boothe, assistant manager of the Seaside Aquarium, said thousands of skin-breathing sea cucumbers washed ashore across more than 2 miles of Seaside Beach, Oregon.
- Heavy surf and low tide displaced the cucumbers onto the beach, as the species normally burrows into the sand along the low tideline habitat and farther offshore.
- Each sea cucumber measures about a half-inch but can grow to about 6 inches, and Leptosynapta clarki ranges along the Pacific coast from northern California to the Gulf of Alaska.
- Boothe said the stranded cucumbers cannot return to the water and will dry up and die, while their decomposing bodies will feed beach hoppers, beach fleas and other tideline invertebrates.
- Such large groupings occur only a few times a year or sometimes once every few years, and Boothe expects they'll be gone by Wednesday or Thursday.
40 Articles
40 Articles
Sea cucumbers wash ashore by the thousands in Seaside
Thousands of sea cucumbers have washed up on the beach in the Oregon coastal town of Seaside thanks to a combination of heavy surf and low tide.The partially translucent, pink gelatinous creatures are called skin breathing sea cucumbers. They normally burrow into the sand along the low tideline and farther out. But on Tuesday, they were scattered across more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of Seaside Beach, said Tiffany Boothe, the assistant manag…
Doomed Sea Cucumbers Wash Ashore in Oregon
Thousands of sea cucumbers have washed up on the beach in the Oregon coastal town of Seaside thanks to a combination of heavy surf and low tide. The partially translucent, pink gelatinous creatures are called skin breathing sea cucumbers. They normally burrow into the sand along the low tideline and...
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