A lot of humans’ problems have natural solutions. For example, the discovery of penicillin in fungi helped saved millions of lives. Scientists have found use of an organism that may be able to help clean up our oceans - the organism being a sea cucumber. These harmless creatures have a variety of uses, including being a nutritious delicacy in some cultures. Unfortunately, these creatures have been overharvested and sea cucumber populations in the wild are seriously depleted. Luckily, scientists found that sea cucumbers show a great deal of potential in their ability to clean up pollution on the ocean floor. Essentially, scientists plan to use sea cucumbers to clean up the waste created by fish farms.
Humans have left a huge eco-footprint on Earth the past few centuries and we are reaching our limit on how much more damage we can do to the environment. Thus, the discovery of the sea cucumber’s ability to convert the wastes created by fish farms to nutrients for its own survival is a great one. This is a win-win situation, where fish farms are going to be more sustainable with the use of these sea cucumbers and then sea cucumbers would also be saved from extinction. This discovery exemplifies the importance of preserving and studying organisms. We are discovering new species every day and by all of studying them, perhaps we will find solutions to other problems in the world.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110202202952.htm
Posted by James Lin (8)
The use of sea cucumbers for waste-converters sounds like it has no negative impact. As is stated in the article, they are harmless, convert fish waste into nutrients for themselves, and this new use would help save them from extinction. However, most of these introduction cases do not end well. What happens if we introduce the sea-cucumbers to these fish farms and then they flourish in their new environments cleaning up the waste, to the point that they reproduce and become invasive? What impact would they have on their new environment in overwhelming numbers? These are all things we need to think about before implementing a quick fix to a problem we have made for ourselves.
ReplyDeletePosted by Chelsea Van Thof.
I always assumed sea cucumbers were just filter feeders who just sat still in the water and let their food come to them. It seems instead they fulfill the role of decomposer for the sea floor, much like a worm does for the forest floor. Being able to use such a clean, natural solution to pick up after ourselves and try to negate our eco-impact is a great thing. It's even more convenient that sea cucumbers are delicious edible animals too! This could be an opportunity for fish farms. Not only do you have a way to clean up the waste, but you also get another crop to add to the menu!
ReplyDeletePosted by Rhys Ursuliak
This does seem like an excellent idea- I wonder how versatile sea cucumbers are in terms of the habitat that they can live in? Would they be able to survive in all the oceanic environments where fish farms are being built? Of course, pollution isn't the only reason why fish farms can be very bad for the environment- there are many more reasons- but the sea cucumber discovery is a great first step into making the production of fish a more sustainable industry.
ReplyDelete-Posted by Johanna Brophy
Sea cucumbers are like the earthworms of the sea! It's amazing to see how so many creatures in our planet work together in mutual harmony to keep everything in balance. Of course, that's not counting humans, who are making everything go out of balance. To me, this is incredibly frustrating because so many people don't realize our ecological footprint we're creating, but I'm glad creatures like this sea cucumber are slowing down our destruction of our environment.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
The sea cucumber's ability to clean up the ocean is awesome. I think this proves that things have a way of working out. Humans have put so much damage on the aquatic environment, it just hurts to think about the BP oil spill. I'm curious though how does the sea cucumber clean up the ocean. Does it break things down like a decomposer?
ReplyDeletePosted By Nick Gast
Nature is a beauty, huh? We need to learn from nature the importance of survival and resourcefulness. I believe we are TRYING to understand the simplicity of nature and its miracles, but we have not even broken the surface.
ReplyDeleteA sea cumber. Who would have though that something so simple that lives at the bottom of the ocean could be so useful? Well with science always moving forward it is no wonder we discovered such an amazing creature.
Posted by: Em Arsenault
These kind of discoveries give us hope for the future. This is the great thing about science; it's constantly expanding and never finished. Allowing to some studying seemly useless creatures such as the sea cucumber may seem like a waste of time and money, but this fascinating discovery proves otherwise. Perhaps this is the doing of evolution, and these sea cucumbers did not always possess this ability. And perhaps natural selection is working in our favor; although we as humans seem to be depleting resources and producing waste, maybe natural selection is trying to account for these man-made problems (although it's a long shot).
ReplyDeletePosted by Sara Corey
@Chelsea - As with all discoveries, a lot of testing and observations should be done before the discovery is utilized on a wider scale. I would be surprised if something similar was not done here too. But its hard to believe that sea cucumbers can do harm to the environment.
ReplyDelete@Nick - From what I understand, the sea cucumbers are able to utilize waste as nutrition for itself. I guess in a way it is breaking things down like a decomposer.
Posted by James Lin
This is an interesting post, I was not aware that sea cucumbers contributed to their ecosystem, especially to that extent. I know there are a few species of fish that do this as well. I wonder how they go about this however, are they simply cleaning the waters within a close perimeter or are they mobile and do it to a greater extent?
ReplyDeleteComment by Jose Mijangos