The underwater site known as Strawberry Fields in Fiordland gets its name from the strawberry sea cucumber, Squamocnus brevidentis. These animals form a mat on a rock wall in Preservation Inlet at densities of up to a thousand individuals per square meter. They contract from their regular cucumber shape into a strawberry blob when disturbed. Like sea pens, they are usually found in far deeper waters, but the dark, tannin-stained waters of Fiordland serve as excellent habitat. S. brevidentis gives birth to live young, which is not common for most sea cucumbers.

—Karen Courtnage