Sea Cucumbers Anyone?

The Sea Cucumber at the Agutayan Island sanctuary...so named because of its cucumber-like shape. It is an echinoderm with elongated body and leathery skin. I think this one delicately raised at Agutayan is a beige-sea-cucumber which is expelling a sticky foam as a defensive action. They eat plankton and decaying organic matter on the sea floor and also sift through the sediments and position themselves in the current to catch food that flows by with their open tentacles. The common name of sea cucumber is "balat" which was once abundant in the seashores of Opol and El Salvador. My wife who hails from Surigao del Norte often tells my sons that "bayat", yes, "bayat" , the surigaonon way of changing the L to Y, is abundantly picked for food which is a delicacy in their province. Some varieties are said to have healing properties and also endowed with aphrodisiac powers. My son Ronald at the Bolinao Marine Research is involved in a research of sea cucumbers and sea urchins of which kind, I do not know, but surely one which would put back a population of sea cucumbers in a sustainable way. As for the dry land kind of cucumber, widely cultivated vine plant of the gourd family which includes the squash. Its fruit is roughly cylindrical, elongated with tapered end. When it is still unripe green form is eaten fresh. Having an enclosed seed and developing from a flower, it is classified as a fruit and in culinary term only it is classified as vegetable.. I guess, no problem there. It is a beauty aid for many!!!