Sea pigs of the deep ocean. Walking around on elongated tube feet, this peculiar creature is the most abundant animal on the abyssal plain. It’s called a sea pig, a kind of sea cucumber that has been found living as deep as 6,000 metres. They are deposit feeders, relying on decaying organic matter that they dig out of the mud using a ring of tentacles around the mouth. And in doing so, they play an important part in cycling nutrients and making food available to fellow sea-floor creatures. Remarkably, in 2020, researchers from MBARI discovered that many sea pigs seem to form a close symbiotic association with young king crabs. The crabs cling to their undersides, possibly to hide from predators.