This unusual sea creature is worth $3,000 and fishermen risk their lives to hunt them

Have you seen what a sea cucumber looks like? It might not be a common cuisine dish in many countries, however, it's one of the best-selling seafood items in the Asian market. The sea cucumber is a type of large aquatic slug consisting of a mouth attached to a worm-like body.

A delicacy with a price tag of $3,000

But back to our cucumbers. They may not look it, but these unusual animals can be worth up to $3,000 a kilo! A very high value for many fishermen who do not hesitate to put their lives at risk to gather this delicacy from the sea. So why are sea cucumbers, so expensive? According to Steven Purcell, a world expert on the subject:

These otherworldly animals have been prized as a delicacy in Asia for centuries, where the wealthiest class would eat the animals as a nutritious high-protein treat. But it wasn't until the 1980s that demand exploded

With the rise in living standards and the emergence of an urban Chinese middle class, more people are now able to afford this luxury. As a food with a high symbolic value, its consumption is a way to distinguish oneself from the more working-class segments of society. The same is true for shark fin soup.

Dangerous for the fishermen

Mr Purcell adds:

Today, they are usually dried and packed in decorated boxes, then given as gifts and served on special occasions. So the more refined and unusual they are, the better, and the higher the price

The problem is that as demand has exploded, the sea cucumber fishery has mechanically intensified to meet the market pressure. Taking the example of Yucatan, a Mexican state known for its beaches in the Gulf of Mexico, divers have seen their harvest fall by 95% between 2012 and 2014 as a result of overexploitation. And the rarer they are, the more expensive they are. Purcell concludes:

And the rarer these animals become, the deeper divers have to swim to find them. That's when fishing becomes dangerous.

Indeed, in the Yucatan, there are now 40 deaths among sea cucumber fishermen who died while digging ever deeper into the ocean.

This article was translated from Gentside FR.

Sources used:

-Insider: 'Sea cucumbers are so valuable that people are risking their lives during diving for them'

-Franceinfo: 'Les holothuries désormais classées en espèce protégée'