Yum!

Ready to acquire a taste for the 'vacuum cleaners of the sea'?

It breathes through its anus, can liquefy its body and acts as the waste collectors of the seabed. Scientists now believe that a species of sea cucumber living off the British coast could become a lucrative culinary export.

A project will begin this year to see whether it is possible to harvest commercial quantities of sea cucumbers – which are animals not plants – from beneath fish farms where the seabed is laden with the organic detritus.

Experts believe it may be possible to clean up the sea floor below the fish farms by cultivating vast "herds" of sea cucumbers while at the same time producing a valuable culinary delicacy that is highly prized in China and the Far East, where processed sea cucumbers can sell for extortionate prices.

 Maybe these are the solution to our trade imbalance with China?  They provide us everything, and we send them Sea Cukes?  The local market for them seems limited:

Known for its slipperiness – a test for all but expert chopstick users – the sea cucumber is a delicacy best served braised in a broth of shitake mushrooms. Its flavour has been rated by one western diner as "slightly lower than phlegm, the texture of which it closely resembles". Not widely available in Britain, so those wishing to try it should head to Chinatown. Take a fork.