Sea cucumbers can eject their internal organs to escape predators.

When threatened, some species of sea cucumber pull off one of nature’s most dramatic escape acts: They literally spill their guts — directly at the incoming threat. In a process called evisceration, the marine animal contracts its body and expels its own sticky, white internal organs — called Cuvierian tubules — out of its anus. The organs can entangle, distract, or chemically deter predators such as crabs and fish, giving the sea cucumber precious moments in which to flee the scene. 

This may sound like a poorly thought-through escape plan, as internal organs tend to be important. But sea cucumbers are capable of regenerating the expelled organs, sometimes in as little as a week (although it can take up to five months). It may not be pretty, but it’s an effective last-ditch survival strategy on the ocean floor.