What is it? Are you putting it back in the same kind of water from which it came? I heartily endorse this endeavor, and hope you take photos!

So do you eat something you're adverse to eating, or do you lie? Quite the conundrum ;)

What is it? Maybe someone can tell you exactly how to describe it.

Yeah...what is it? I love seafood. I'll eat it.

I'm not a vegan, but I am a self-deluding seafood-eating wimp. I really couldn't deal with having, let's say, a live squid or lobster in my house, and then cooking it.

I'd be much more likely to end up being the unwilling owner of a pet squid or lobster.

/homer

What type of seafood lives in complete darkness in 35 degree water?

Yeah, WHAT IS IT??? For the love of god, man! Don't keep us in suspense any longer.

It's a sea cucumber. I had dellusions of being able to make sashimi for my husband, but instead, he was so freaked out by the whole taking of life bit, that he almost didn't come home. (^_^)

And I really have no idea what I was thinking, as I tend be nauseous just looking at beautifully displayed already dead sashimi...

I don't know what kind of place they're supposed to be, and it might end up dead before we release it, but at least something that's supposed to eat it, might? It must have been caught somewhere fairly local, so hopefully it will be okay.

I wish I could have given it to a neighbor or something, but I don't really know them, and it would be a bit too bizarre to meet them by offering them a sea creature in a baggie and pretty much only being able to say "Please, have this."

(and yeah, I don't know how well it will do in the fridge, but those were the instructions I was given... of course that's for food storage, but it's supposed to be alive when you prepare it...)

They said "the sea is dark and cold" so put it in the refrigerator, "but NOT in the freezer!"

Please, DO NOT RELEASE IT INTO THE WILD.

If it's a species or subspecies that's not native to where you release it, it can cause major and lasting ecological damage. (Google "rabbit Australia".)

Even if it is native, the animal may have acquired, during its processing by humans diseases not naturally occurring in the species.

It's thought that scrapie -- a prion disease related to "Mad Cow" (BSE) and vCJD in humans -- was introduced into the deer population when research deer, which had been housed next to sheep, in which scrapie naturally occurs, were re-released into the wild. (Today, research animals would be killed rather than released, precisely to avoid these problems.)

Release of the animal may seem -- and may be -- humane in the short run, but could cause irreparable damage to the animal's species or to the local ecosystem. But to be truly humane may require you to eschew sentimentality.

I think you should towel it off, fix it some cocoa, and give it a hug.

Don't feel too bad, Nez. From wikipedia:
The sea-cucumber itself does not mind either way, for it is famous for having no brain whatsoever, not even the start of a ganglia.

Taz, should you ever be burdened by live lobsters, feel free to Fed Ex them to me. I'll take goooood care of them. I will smother them with love, er, I mean butter.

ortho, you've never sounded more like Jesus than that.

ortho, the "processing by humans" in this case is gathering the critters into a bucket... we're talking about collecting edibles from the backyard type stuff rather than some crisis-inducing introduced species...

Are you telling me that by catching box turtles for a day and letting them loose again contaminated the Midwest? Did my little girl cooties contaminate the turtles which then contaminated the ecosystem? I understand where you're coming from, but I think it's misplaced in this instance.

Ortho's right. Sacrifice it. Think of all the alligators in NYC's sewers.

They ate sea cucumber in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

See? About a third to half of the way down the page.

I'm kind of freaked out by the concept of expelling internal organs as a defense mechanism...

Just an update: the critter is back where it belongs. I tried taking a picture, but I am still uneasy about waves and oceanic stuff, so I didn't really manage well. Anyway, there you go.

May 'Ortho's Cootie Monster' live a long, squishy life and bear many little Orthos!

Oh, and about the seniors - baffle them! Tell them it escaped!