TEXT B Certainly no creature in
the sea is odder than the common sea cucumber. All living creature, especially
human beings, have their peculiarities, but everything about the little sea
cucumber seems unusual. What else can be said about a bizarre animal that, among
other eccentricities, eats mud, feeds almost continuously day and night but can
live without eating for long periods, and can be poisonous but is considered
supremely edible by gourmets For some fifty million years,
despite all its eccentricities, the sea cucumber has subsisted on its diet of
mud. It is adaptable enough to live attached to rocks by its tube feet, under
rocks in shallow water, or on the surface of mud fiats. Common in cool water on
both Atlantic and Pacific shores, it has the ability to suck up mud or sand and
digest whatever nutrients are present. Sea cucumbers come in a
variety of colors, ranging from black to reddish-brown to sand-color and nearly
white. One form even has vivid purple tentacles. Usually the creatures are
cucumber-shaped -- hence their name-and because they are typically rock
inhabitants, this shape, combined with flexibility, enables them to squeeze into
crevices where they are safe from predators and ocean currents.
Although they have voracious appetites, eating day and night, sea
cucumbers have the capacity to become quiescent and live at a low metabolic
rate-feeding sparingly or not at all for long periods, so that the marine
organisms that provide their food have a chance to multiply. If it were not for
this faculty, they would devour all the food available in a short time and would
probably starve themselves out of existence. But the most
spectacular thing about the sea cucumber is the way it defends itself. Its major
enemies are fish and crabs, when attacked, it squirts all its internal organs
into water. It also casts off attached structures such as tentacles. The sea
cucumber will eviscerate and regenerate itself if it is attacked or even touched
l it will do the same if the surrounding water temperature is too high or if the
water becomes too polluted. Which of the following would NOT cause a sea cucumber to release its internal organs into the water
A.A touch. B.Food. C.Unusually warm water D.Pollution.