Headless chicken monster

Enypniastes eximia

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth920–2,875 m
Water temperature-2–29 °C
Best monthsNovember
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) NOAA Ocean Exploration & Research, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Enypniastes is a genus of deep-sea sea cucumber. It is monotypic, being represented by the single species Enypniastes eximia. Due to its unique appearance, the species has been dubbed the headless chicken fish, headless chicken monster, and the Spanish dancer. It is also known as the swimming sea cucumber, and some are called the pink see-through fantasia.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Enypniastes”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 3 records
February: 11 records
March: 14 records
April: 18 records
May: 14 records
June: 17 records
July: 10 records
August: 6 records
September: 1 records
October: 6 records
November: 52 records
December: 7 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 920–2,875 m · Deepest record: 6,151 m

70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110–120 m: 0 records
120–130 m: 0 records
130–140 m: 0 records
140–150 m: 0 records
150–160 m: 0 records
160–170 m: 0 records
170–180 m: 0 records
180+ m: 296 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -2–29 °C

-2–0 °C: 1 records
0–2 °C: 0 records
2–4 °C: 0 records
4–6 °C: 0 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 9 records
12–14 °C: 20 records
14–16 °C: 82 records
16–18 °C: 43 records
18–20 °C: 8 records
20–22 °C: 5 records
22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 5 records
26–28 °C: 2 records
28–30 °C: 6 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Headless chicken monster, Spanish dancer, Headless Chicken Fish, Headless Chicken Monster, headless chicken sea monster, Pink Swimming Sea Cucumber, Spanish Monster, Swimming Sea Cucumber

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: ユメナマコ

Other scientific names: Enypniastes atlanticus, Enypniastes decipiens, Enypniastes diaphana, Enypniastes ecalcarea, Enypniastes globosa, Enypniastes obscura, Euriplastes atlanticus, Euriplastes obscura, Pelagothuria Bouvieri, Peniagone ecalcarea, Planktothuria diaphana

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
331 open-data records from 1874 to 2025.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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