What are some of the most fascinating facts about the sea pig? Oh wait, have you guys even heard of the sea pig before?! Do you guys know that these guys are actually defenders of baby king crabs? Or the fact that they hang out deep in the bottom of the sea? Watch this video to find out all the most interesting facts about the sea pig! Subscribe to Pablito’s Way Animals! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmgzXK-DAc5SOfOPxc8fc0A?sub_confirmation=1 12 - Sea Cucumber Cousins Sea pigs are members of the sea cucumber family. That means that they have their similarities and their differences, mostly in their method of defense, physiology, and habitat. You can also think of them as cousins to the sea cucumbers! In reality, sea cucumbers are mostly crawling segments of intestines, and apparently, they look rather delicious to a lot of sea creatures. Now, that means that the life of a sea cucumber can be rather unfortunate. Some sea cucumbers have fish that swim up their butts in order to hide from predators while others have to fight off predators in the open sea. Does that sound fun to anyone? Their main tactic of defense is to fire their intestines and other organs out of their rear ends in the hopes of shocking their attackers. But it seems that sea pigs are living the good life – a life where they don’t have to defend themselves. The sea pigs, half a dozen species in the genus Scotoplanes, actually kinda resemble pigs. Compared to their shallow-water sea cucumber cousins, sea pigs don't have nearly as many predators, meaning no organs shooting outta their butts. 11 - Oval Bodies The average sea pig has an oval body with a length ranging from 2 to 4 inches. They’re a bit chubby and squishy but in a good way. One study found that their size actually varies by their numbers and that smaller sea pigs travel in large groups. Sea pigs have a giant mouth, surrounded with feeding tentacles, which help them push in food. These tentacles simultaneously face against the current to get a whiff of any food "upstream." They have several squatty little legs, and, depending on the species, they have five to seven pairs of feet that are used exclusively for walking on the seafloor. Some sea pigs have particularly enlarged tube feet that have taken on a “leg-like” appearance, using water cavities within the skin to inflate and deflate their limbs. On top of their heads, sea pigs have three or four pairs of antennae. Well, even though they look like antennas, the structures on the top of the sea pig’s head are actually feet, which we’ll get into a bit later! Currently, there are 5 discovered sea pig species, but who knows what else the abyss of the ocean is hiding? 10 - Deep Sea Homes Sea pigs live at the bottoms of oceans, specifically on the abyssal plain in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans. Most of the time, sea pigs are found living in depths that go as far as 3.7 miles deep! Some related species can be found in the Antarctic, but since the water is colder there, they don’t live as deep.Many people have wondered on the internet whether they can keep a sea pig as a pet. The answer is a big no, as we mentioned just a few seconds ago, these animals live in deep waters. The temperature and pressure can't be replicated in a domesticated environment, and trying to do so would be quite expensive. Can you imagine what type of tank you would need? Besides, even if you could SOMEHOW replicate these living conditions, finding sea pigs usually involves a small army of ships, submarines, and scientists, which is why the only people who have ever seen them in real life are usually marine biologists and oceanographers. 9 - Yummy? Remember what was setting sea pigs apart from other sea cucumbers? Yeah, it’s the fact that they don’t blow their guts out of their butts when they’re harassed by some predator. And that’s probably because they don’t tend to get harassed too much. Compared to something such as a reef, where all manner of predators can make life miserable for sea cucumbers, the deep sea is relatively safe. However, another reason that they aren’t bothered as much seems to be the fact that they’re unappetizing to most predators. Their skin contains toxic chemicals, known as holothurin, which apparently makes them unattractive to anything that tries to eat them. In fact, holothurin is so nasty that people in the Indo-Pacific have been said to poison pools in coral reefs with the stuff to just to knock out fish for easy picking.