Thousands of sea cucumbers washed ashore, what risk?

Thousands of sea cucumbers drifted to the coast, causing many people to worry, what is going on at the bottom of the sea? Why is this phenomenon?

Sea cucumbers washed ashore in Phu Quoc

Scientists decipher why thousands of sea cucumbers drift to the coast of Phu Quoc on September 18th.

Coral substrate is damaged

Mr. Nguyen Van Long, a resident of Duong To commune, Phu Quoc, said that on September 18, everyone heard that many sea cucumbers were reported to drift to the coast in the area from Dinh Cau to Cua Lap. His house collected about 100kg.

According to Mr. Long's estimation, the number of sea cucumbers arriving on the shore this time is about 2 tons and 'only this time is so much,' Mr. Long said.

The people living in Phu Quoc for a long time affirmed that Phu Quoc beach has never happened before.

Dr. Vu Ngoc Long, Director of Southern Institute of Ecology, initially stated that the coral bottom area in this place is being damaged by one or more impacts.

Sea cucumber washed ashore thousands of children, mixed with garbage - (Photo: Le Khoa).

According to Mr. Long's research, the tourism activities, the exploitation of grouper and sea cucumbers currently in Phu Quoc have severely damaged the coral bottom and that is why the phenomenon of sea cucumbers is swept to shore. series appeared.

Mr. Long explained that boats are exploited by big scooping at the bottom, sweeping the surface of the seabed, especially the ancient coral reefs or using chemicals, using mines in catching and destroying the house of sea cucumber .

'When losing a home, the resistance of sea cucumbers to large waves will be reduced. Large waves of tides, large waves below the surface will sweep the bottom of the sea up, sweep with sea cucumbers and push them all to shore , 'Mr. Long said.

Dr. Do Van Tu, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources also hypothesized that the sea cucumbers could be destroyed or polluted from the use of chemicals or explosives. caught by fishermen.

'Under normal environmental conditions, rarely sea cucumbers are washed away from their habitat. Only when sea cucumbers are weak or habitat is destroyed is there a phenomenon of ashore and a series of deaths, 'said Dr. Do Van Tu.

Pay attention to waste

That is the opinion of professor and doctor of science Dang Huy Huynh, vice president of Vietnam Association for Nature and Environment Protection. One reason to think about the phenomenon of sea cucumber washed ashore and died thousands of children, according to Professor Dang Huy Huynh is a problem of environmental pollution, pollution of living environment which needs cleanness of this species.

Professor Dang Huy Huynh said that with the current exciting tourism, exploitation and aquaculture activities in Phu Quoc, waste should be taken into account.

'In densely populated, crowded areas, fishing and farming activities are active, if not solving the waste problem, putting garbage into the sea will lead to bad results as seen' , teacher Prof. Dang Huy Huynh warned.

Sea cucumber is picked up and dried by people in Phu Quoc.

Do not eat dead sea cucumbers

Dr. Vu Ngoc Long said this is the breeding season for sea cucumbers. This breeding season usually lasts about 2 months, which is also the time of booming the number of sea cucumbers.

However, this time should avoid the exploitation of sea cucumber is a link in the process of transporting materials at the bottom of the sea, if it is destroyed, it will lose the balance, making a closed circle in the cycle. this process.

In addition, according to Mr. Long, this exploitation also loses the self-protection of coral reef ecosystems.

Dr. Vu Ngoc Long also warned that dead sea cucumbers will change very quickly, their bodies can contain many toxic algae, poisonous mushrooms, not ensuring food hygiene and safety. Eating dead sea cucumbers will adversely affect human health, Long said.

What is sea cucumber?

Sea cucumber (English name: sea cucumber) folk name is 'rum' , seaworm, is an invertebrate, echinoderm. Sea cucumbers have a natural age of 5-10 years, body length is 2-20cm.

Currently there are about 1,250 species of sea cucumbers in the world. Most species of sea cucumbers live in the ocean, some distributed in shallow or deep sea waters. Tubular body like cucumber, slightly rough and soft. The front end is the mouth, usually with 8-30 tubular legs like tentacles around. The back end has anus.

Sea cucumbers are omnivores, they eat small organisms and animals, or waste is collected

Sea cucumber is the food of some and some other sea creatures. In some countries such as China, Japan, Malaysia, sea cucumbers are considered high value foods because they believe in healing abilities. Sea cucumbers are exploited by capturing and breeding.

When in danger, some nudibranchs secrete substances to trap the enemy. Others split a part of their body, turning the viscera out of the anus to distract, then the lost parts regenerate.