[Originally posted to the Moorea Coral Reef LTER (MCR LTER) Marine Life Encyclopedia]

Pineapple or Prickly Cucumber
(Thelenota ananas)

Photo by Gerick Bergsma

Cucumbers feed using specially modified tube feet to bring food to their mouths.


	Throughout the Indian and West Pacific, including eastern Africa, India, Japan, Australia and French Polynesia

	Reef flats and sand patches

	Algae (esp. Halimeda sp.) and detritus

	Pineapple Cucumbers are known to host pearlfish, symbiotic fish that live in the cucumber's gut. Pearlfish have long, slender bodies and are able to enter and exit their cucumber home through the cucumber's anus. It is thought that they may feed on parts of the cucumber's digestive tract, as well as hunt for small crustaceans and fish outside the cucumber.

	- Echinoderms - Moorea Biocode Database