The ocean is filled with some weird animals. Whether it’s the blobfish of the deep or that Australian fish that likes to hang out in the sand and kill whoever steps on it, the seas provide us with intrigue, wonder, and in this case, reasons to be grossed out.


Sea cucumbers are leathery-skinned marine animals that eat a diet consisting primarily of plankton. Given that they’re basically just a big tube, they lack any major defense system to protect them from predators — except, of course, shooting a massive load.



“When a sea cucumber is worried, it discharges the cuvierian organ that transforms into sticky spaghetti structures on contact with sea water, to immobilise potential predators,” reads the above tweet, which shows a sea cucumber making some sweaty spaghetti all over itself.


According to the Science Times, this substance “stops sea cucumber predators like fish, crabs and starfish in their tracks,” at least until they can find a towel to get it off. As for what it actually is, the Science Times notes that “the ‘silk’ proteins in sea cucumber tubules are comparable to spider silk, comprising extended, repeating chains of amino acids rather than the amino acid sequences observed in spider silk.” It’s also comparable to something else, but we don’t need to go there.


And if you’re thinking about picking one up and making some kind of jerk-off motion for comedy, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Jackass already beat you to it.