“Headless Chicken” of the Deep Sea: This Bizarre Creature is a Mystery to Researchers

What is the “Headless Chicken” and where does it live?

The original name for this unusual marine creature is Enypniastes eximia, given to it in 1882. The word enypniastes means “dreamer,” taken from the Book of Genesis. Other colorful English names include “headless chicken monster” and “Spanish dancer.” In English, it is simply a sea cucumber.

This creature inhabits the deep oceans worldwide, found more than 500 meters underwater. You can spot it at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the eastern Atlantic, the coast of New Zealand, and the Southern Ocean.

“These sea cucumbers differ from their more worm-like, shallow-water relatives because they have a wing-like fold and a much more gelatinous body, which allows them to drift and swim for short periods,” states the NOAA Ocean Exploration website.

Although its body reaches a length of about 25 centimeters – roughly the size of a small chicken – the sea cucumber’s significance is disproportionately larger. The primary food of this “sea pickle” is something called marine snow. This is organic material that falls from the upper layers of the ocean. It includes:

• remnants of plants and animals,
• plankton waste,
• microorganisms.

When it settles on the seabed, it forms a nutrient-rich but difficult-to-digest layer. The sea cucumber uses its pincer-like appendages around its mouth to burrow into the sediment and devour this valuable matter. This is hard and tedious work, but it is vital for the proper functioning of the aquatic ecosystem. By recycling organic matter and aerating sediments, Enypniastes eximia helps keep the deep ocean in good condition.

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Unique, Even Among Marine Fauna

Its method of feeding is incredibly fascinating, as is how it expels waste from its body. Before pushing off from the ocean floor, the sea cucumber gets rid of the digested material. In this way, it leaves behind expelled substances, much like earthworms do in soil. There are two benefits to this method of excretion.

First, this action allows it to push off better and more easily swim to shallower water levels. Second, the process of its defecation serves an important ecological function. It cleanses and aerates the seafloor, making the substances left behind by Enypniastes eximia available to other organisms.

A Fragile Mystery: Why is this Sea Cucumber so Hard to Study?

Even though it has been known to the marine system for centuries, we still know very little about it. The reason is its fragile body. If researchers get too close and try to take a sample, it is easily damaged. That is why our current knowledge comes primarily from observations and recordings that have been made.

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