External Morphology

The body wall, or dermis, is often referred to as mutable connective tissue or catch tissue. Mutable connective tissue is unique in that it is able to change its rigidity i.e. it can become rock hard and then change to extremely soft (Ruppert et al. 2004). It is noted through observation that the body wall of S. hermanni is significantly thicker than other smaller species of sea cucumbers.

Herman’s sea cucumber has tube feet on its ventral surface, otherwise known as the sole. Each tube foot is attached to its own ampulla, which are small muscular sacs within the coelomis fluid (Ruppert et al. 2004).

The mouth and anus are at opposite ends of the body. The mouth is surrounded by buccal podia or tentacles which are specialised tube feet.