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Here Piggy

On a 2009 expedition, WHOI biologist Tim Shank and WHOI’s hybrid robotic vehicle Nereus collected this animal 8.984 meters (5.58 miles) down in the Mariana Trench. A sea cucumber in the genus Scotoplanes, it may be a species new to science. These creatures (sometimes called “sea pigs”) live in the deep sea, feed on sediment, and roam the sea floor in herds on leg-like ‘tube feet.’ The brownish material inside the animal is sediment this animal ate that is traveling through its digestive system.(Photo courtesy of Tim Shank, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)