Sea Cucumbers Sea cucumbers are very slug-like in form and seem like a very large, shelless mollusc. Because of their five-sided body plan, they are more closely related to seastars and sea urchins and belong to the Phylum Echinodermata . This mollusc-like appearance is because sea cucumbers often crawl with one side of their body in contact with the substrate or lie buried in soft sediments . The mouth is at the front end, and the excreta expelling anus is at the rear end.
Sea cucumbers eat plankton and detritus .
The pink or brown coloured Chirodota gigas , is the most common sea cucumber found along southern New South Wales shores ranging to north-eastern Tasmania, but only the far eastern coast of Victoria. A Photographic Guide to Seashore Life of Australia. New Holland, Sydney. Reed Books, Kew. Victorian National Parks Association, Melbourne.