Headless chicken fish - Allison Samdres

Enypniastes eximia

Headless chicken fish

Allison Sandres

Start

Ring Canal: of water filled canals branching from a ring canal that encircles the gut. It faciliates gas exchange, nutrition, predation, and locomotion. Tentacle: They use their tentacles to capture plankton and tiny particles , then sweeps the food into its mouth. Mouth: Sweeps water, capturing food particles, and then transferred one by one to its mouth to wipe off the food. Anus: Used for excretion and breath. They use it for eating occasionally Coelom: Serves in circulation and homeostasis

Movement

They can move their anterior veil in a rowing motion, they can use their tentacles to pull themselves down current. They also move using a pushing motion with their tentacles (which are modified tube feet).

Feeding

The headless chicken fish eats micro-organisms inlcuding bacteria, fungi and larger invertebrates. It feeds very fast by moving food into its mouth with its tentacles before moving away from the seafloor.

Ossicles

Many sea cucumbers have ossicles in the dermis of their body wall. They form part of the edoskeleton and their function is to provide protection and support. I´m not completely sure if headless chicken fish have an ossicle, but most sea cucumbers do. Headless chicken fish probably do have an ossicle because they have an endoskeleton, which lies beneath the skin.

Reproduction

Sea cucumbers reproduce sexually and asexually and unlike terrestial animals they can reproduce by releasing eggs and sperm into the water, where the eggs are fertilized. It is not clear how headless chicken fish reproduce but some claim that they lay eggs above the sediment.

Predators and Defense

Headless chicken fish are primarily food for crustaceans and turtles. These sea cucumbers defend by using their gelatinous flesh, which contains granules that produce bioluminescence when it bumps into something. They use their sticky skin to defend from predators, so that when predators bump into them, they can end up a glowing patch that can warn other critters of danger. They use the mechanism of cuvierian tubules, which create the sticky skin. Cuvieran tubules are efficient at entangling and immobilizing most predators.

Facts

1. Headless sea cucumbers have been kwown to scientists since the late 19th century 2. It has been seen in Mexico and East Artantica 3. It is not clear where they are distributed around the world 4. The first video taken of them was in 2018 5. Its name comes from its shape ( roasted chicken!!)

Sources

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00311965

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/22/world/australia/headless-chicken-monster.html

https://www.popsci.com/deep-sea-cucumber-headless-chicken-monster/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24985220/#:~:text=The%20peculiar%20Cuvierian%20tubules%20of,of%20seconds%20and%20thus%20immobilized.

https://trishansoz.com/trishansoz/animals/headless-chicken-monster.html

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