Rs One Cr worth rare Sea Cucumber seized in TN

Rameswaram: A sea cucumber valued around Rs one crore and suspected to be smuggled to Sri Lanka was recovered by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and the Coast Guard, officials said.

According to a senior Forest official, during patrolling, a boat was found moving about in a suspicious manner near Pamban here and the Coast Guard was also informed.

When personnel checked the unmanned boat, they recovered 1.5 kg of sea cucumber from the unregistered craft, they said, adding, a probe is on.

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothurian species worldwide is about 1,717 with the greatest number being in the Asia Pacific region.

Many of these are gathered for human consumption and some species are cultivated in aquaculture systems. The harvested product is variously referred to as trepang, namako, bêche-de-mer or balate.

Sea cucumbers serve a useful role in the marine ecosystem as they help recycle nutrients, breaking down detritus and other organic matter after which bacteria can continue the degradation process.

Most sea cucumbers, as their name suggests, have a soft and cylindrical body, more or less lengthened, rounded off and occasionally fat in the extremities, and generally without solid appendages.

Their shape ranges from almost spherical for “sea apples” (genus Pseudocolochirus) to serpent-like for Apodida or the classic sausage-shape, while others resemble caterpillars.