Cotton-Spinner

• It can violently expel its own internal organs in defence and regrow them afterwards.
• It recycles nutrients on the sea floor by processing great quantities of sediment.
• It lives in Posidonia seagrass meadows and on soft bottoms of the Mediterranean down to 123 m.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - reduced calcareous endoskeleton embedded in the skin (echinoderm)

Habitat and environment

Shallow sea beds, seagrass meadows and soft substrates of the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic, down to 123 m

Birth weight

Eggs released into the water by external fertilisation

Size at birth

A planktonic larva after hatching (no precise figures found for its development)

Sexual maturity

Not precisely known in years, though the size at maturity is well documented (18-18.6 cm in total length)

Gestation / incubation

The egg develops in open water over a period the sources do not put a figure on

Litter / clutch size

No precise figure for fecundity in this particular species

Sources consulted: Oxford Academic (Marine and Coastal Fisheries reproductive cycle study) · SeaLifeBase · ScienceDirect (Aegean Sea reproductive biology comparativo) · ResearchGate (sea cucumber sanctori comparativo)

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.