Marnie Chesterton

Sea cucumbers.

I know that you've spent decades studying them.

Just to clarify, are they called sea cucumbers because they live in the sea and they look like cucumbers?

OK.

Now, I want to start with your newly published research.

And in that, you've studied amputated fragments of sea cucumbers for more than three years.

What brought you to start studying discarded bits of sea cucumber?

OK, because, you know, if I, heaven forbid, lost a toe, I know exactly what would happen to the toe.

And it certainly wouldn't carry on living its independent life for me.

It would disintegrate.

Do we know why these discarded feet didn't just die?

Why they why they stay alive?

I mean, how long do sea cucumbers live?

And can these fragments, if you left them and they had an okay time, do they eventually grow an entire new sea cucumber?

Annie, you've mentioned that these sea cucumbers have some quite impressive regenerative capacities.

They can regenerate organs, right?

Can you imagine if we were being mugged and our response was to take all of our internal organs and throw it at the people trying to steal your phone and run away?

Annie, here in Singapore where I am and across Asia, especially in China, sea cucumbers are a highly prized delicacy.

So I'm wondering, how many species of sea cucumber do we actually eat?

And is our consumption of them causing any problems?