blowing brown cucumber + black cloud + petrochemical plant flare @ Cyrene reef

blowing brown cucumber + black cloud + flare @ Cyrene reef from BeachBum on Vimeo.

Found this sole brown cucumber at Cyrene. Not seen another one of it's kind anywhere else. There are other species of sea cucumber on Cyrene but this was the only one of it's kind on Cyrene I spotted that day.

It is noticeably different from the other cukes in that it has a rather large hole at the rear end...an anus! At least it was on the other end of the animal from it's mouth!. Some other cukes seem to have only one main aperture...i.e the mouth is also its anus.

This cuke was about 12 inches long and sitting in a shallow lagoon at low tide. It was actually blowing water out from the big hole. You can make out the turbulence at the water surface just above the hole. Why is it doing this? Maybe it is just expelling water which it takes in from the from end?

In the background is Singapore's Jurong Island. A rather loud alarm was sounded slightly before one of the chimneys was lighted up. A huge black cloud resulted upon first ignition....looks like that cloud would disappear towards the eastern. Flares are emergency measures put in place at such industrial locations to burn off excess waste gases.
"One of the prominent features of every oil refinery and petrochemical plant is a tall stack with a small flame burning at the top. This stack, called a flare, is an essential part of the plant safety system. In the event of equipment failure or plant shutdown, it is necessary to purge the volatile hydrocarbons from operating equipment so that it can be serviced." ~ www.britannica.com

If the flare results in a clear burn (apart from the initial black cloud), then the system is running as designed. However, if the flare continues to produce a black cloud, then the system is not performing as designed. So if the black cloud heads your way.......Run! or hold your breath before it reaches you.!