Certainly nocreature in the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creatures,especiallyhuman beings,have their peculiarities,but everything about the little

sea cucumber seemsunusual.What else can be said about a bizarre animal that,among othereccentricities, eats mud,feeds almost continuously day and night but can live

without eating forlong periods,and can be poisonous but is considered supremely edible bygourmets?

2.For some fiftymillion years,despite all its eccentricities,the sea cucumber has subsisted onits diet of mud.It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube

feet,under rocks inshallow water,or on the surface of mud flats.Common in cool water on both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to suckup mud or sand and digest

whatever nutrientsare present.

3.Sea cucumbers comein a variety of colors,ranging from black to reddish brown to sand color andnearly white.One form even has vivid purple tentacles.Usually the

creatures arecucumber shaped一hencetheir name一and because they are typically rockinhabitants,this shape,combined with flexibility,enables them to squeeze intocrevices

where they are safefrom predators and ocean currents.

4.Although they havevoracious appetites,eating day and night,sea cucumbers have the capacity tobecome quiescent and live at a low metabolic rate feeding sparingly or not

at all for longperiods,so that the marine organisms that provide their food have a chance tomultiply.If it were not for this faculty,they would devour all the foodavailable in a

short time and wouldprobably starve themselves out of existence.

5.But the mostspectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Itsmajor enemies are fish and crabs,when attacked,it squirts all its internalorgans into

water. It also castsoff attached structures such as tentacles.The sea cucumber will eviscerate andregenerate itself if it is attacked or even touched;it will do the same if the

surrounding watertemperature is too high or if the water becomes too polluted.Paragraph 5______

A.How Sea Cucumbers Defend Themselves.

B.Places Where Sea Cucumbers Live.

C.Eccentricities ofSea Cucumbers.

D.Favorite Food ofSea Cucumbers.

E.Eating Habits ofSea Cucumbers.