Capturing Sea Cucumbers

My class went to the beach today for school. Only in Hawaii.


It was for Marine Biology and we were supposed to capture invertebrates from Phyla we studied (Phylum Cnidarian, Phylum Porifera, Phylum Arthropoda, Phylum Gastropoda, Phylum Ctenophore -- see what a great student I am? David Amels laughs hysterically in the background).


During the hour our class had I succeeded in capturing a wild beast, mastering a primal force of nature etc. etc. It looked like this:

Disgusting? I think so.


Don't worry: it is even more disgusting in real life. 


Believe it or not these ridiculous looking things are not poisonous. In fact, apparently it is possible to pick it up with your bare hands. 


So guess what the class instructor told me to do?


Yep, you guessed it.


I had to pick up it up and put it into a bucket.


And, believe it or not, I did it. 


I must have had a mental relapse at that moment.


There's also this odd thing where they squirt out this purple coloured substance for self-defense called  cuvierian tubules. (See how educational these blog posts really are?) It looks like silly string, sticks like glue, and managed to get mangled up in my net (while I was attempting to capture another marine organism). 


I'll let you imagine the rest.