A Galápagos-born scientist just mapped the genome of the endangered brown sea cucumber

Jaime Ortiz, who grew up in the Galápagos and is now a PhD candidate at Cornell, led the team that assembled the first complete, high-quality genome of an endangered sea cucumber anywhere in the world. The brown sea cucumber — hunted nearly to collapse along the Pacific coast — recycles nutrients on the seafloor and shelters coral reefs. With its full genetic code in hand, scientists can now track the species' remaining diversity and guide its recovery.