{"id":13016,"date":"2021-09-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/20-09-2021\/sea-cucumber-3\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T18:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:34:39","slug":"sea-cucumber-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/20-09-2021\/sea-cucumber-3","title":{"rendered":"Sea Cucumber"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>In Context<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">The Indian Coast Guard seized two tonnes of <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>endangered sea cucumber<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> worth Rs 80 million from Tamil Nadu.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>What is a Sea Cucumber?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Sea cucumbers are an<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> important constituent of the marine ecosystem<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> as they play an important role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Demand<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">: Sea cucumbers are in <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>high demand in China and Southeast Asia, <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">where they are consumed as food and used in medicine.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">This <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>endangered species<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> is primarily smuggled from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">By<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> excreting inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">, they<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> enhance the productivity of benthic animals &#8211;<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> those living on the ocean floor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Role in Coral Reef preservation:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> One of the<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> by-products of the sea cucumber&#8217;s digestion of sand is calcium carbonate, a key component of coral reef. <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">To survive, coral reefs must accumulate calcium carbonate, and thus sea cucumbers play a vital role in their preservation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/bwFUScwSLNsCFK2u1l3tmGy1p9hfcG1OXOT3vfk1yk54eOodijTsHguTCKS3GBfrD3IF7xXN2ytMskRMGLXR_s7gULa9tVD5yXQLPt59Rtfx7ieATV0hEUjk4dKkowju4J352XNT=s0\" style=\"height:183px; width:275px\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Physical characteristics:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>No limbs or eyes, or blood.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">There are some<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong> 1,250 known species,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"> and many of these animals are shaped like soft-bodied cucumbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Sea cucumbers<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong> feed on tiny particles like algae, minute aquatic animals, or waste <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">materials, which they gather in 8 to 30 tube feet.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>Defensive Adaptations in Sea Cucumber: <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">When threatened, it discharges sticky threads to ensnare their enemies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>Usage:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Contain high levels of a c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>hemical called fucosylated glycosaminoglycan in their skin,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"> which people across Asia have been using to treat joint problems like arthritis for centuries,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">In Europe,\u00a0 people are using it to treat certain cancers and to reduce blood clots.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>Protection<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Protected under <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>Schedule I under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972 so their trade is banned.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change imposed a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong>total ban on harvesting and transporting sea cucumbers in 2001.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">The ministry has also declared it an endangered<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong> species.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:square\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">As per Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), sea cucumbers of marine environments enjoy the same status as tigers and lions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:13pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong><u>World\u2019s first conservation area for sea cucumbers in India<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Lakshadweep has created the<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><strong> world\u2019s first conservation area for sea cucumbers.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Other than the sea around Lakshadweep islands and Andaman Nicobar islands, the Gulf of Mannar at the confluence of the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu is also home to sea cucumbers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n<span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#111516\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\">Source: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1756319\" style=\"text-decoration:none\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:'Book Antiqua',serif\"><span style=\"color:#1155cc\"><span style=\"background-color:#ffffff\"><u>PIB<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Context The Indian Coast Guard seized two tonnes of endangered sea cucumber worth Rs 80 million from Tamil Nadu. What is a Sea Cucumber? Sea cucumbers are an important constituent of the marine ecosystem as they play an important role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.\u00a0 Demand: Sea cucumbers are in high demand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[54,36,26],"class_list":["post-13016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-biodiversity-and-environment","tag-conservation","tag-gs-3"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/742558Screenshot_2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50072,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13016\/revisions\/50072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}