[youtube width=”680″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzFxjmr5mW8[/youtube]
We’ve seen some alien-looking critters in our reef tanks before but the cold water sea pigs are way up there in terms marine life oddities. Closely related to sea cucumbers, the sea pigs are a group of animals which live in extremely deep water with some adaptations that are totally unique among echinoderms. Although many sea cucumbers have a mouth ringed in tentacles that constantly shovel food and sediment into its gullet, the sea pigs have fewer and more enlarged tube feet which function as rudimentary legs. This particular species of sea pig tentatively identified as species of the Amperima or Periamma genera were filmed at 2324 meters deep under almost a mile and half of water at the Endeavour ridge in the North Pacific Ocean. Barring the needs for extremely cold pressurized water and the impracticality of obtaining some, would you even consider keeping sea pigs in a dedicated aquarium? We totally would, sea pigs are cray-cray.
