Tubular sea cucumber

Scientific name : Holothuria tubulosa

Echinoderm with a long, cylindrical body and rounded extremities; the leathery skin is provided of tubercles and small spines, and the ventral part is equipped with small pimples, used in the locomotion. The colour may shift between brown and purple, with a yellowish belly.
The anterior part bears short retractile tentacles, with which the tubular sea cucumber carries to its mouth the detritus it feeds on. At the opposite side there is the anus.
It reach a maximum length of thirty centimetres.

It is the most common of the Mediterranean sea cucumbers; it may be found at every depth, from the surface to several meters deep. It lives on sandy and gritty bottoms, and inside Posidonia oceanica meadows.