Description

Also known as Banded Sea Cucumber, Conspicuous Sea Cucumber, Feathermouth Sea Cucumber, Maculated Synaptid, Medusa Worm Sea Cucumber, Snake Sea Cucumber, Spotted Sea Cucumber, Spotted Worm Sea Cucumber, Synaptid Sea Cucumber, Tripang, Tropical Sea Cucumber, Worm Sea Cucumber, Wormfish.

Found singly or in a pickle, buried in the substrate or under rocks, over sandy areas and in seagrass beds, of reef flats.
They feed during the day on detritus and organic matter.
Length - 200cm
Depth - 0-30m
Widespread Indo-West Pacific

Synaptidae are soft and worm like, often active during the day.
They have no feet and move by contraction of the body.

Some sea cucumbers crawl around on the bottom slowly filtering sand through their tentacles to gather food, while others spread their tentacles above them to capture plankton. A number of sea cucumbers feed nocturnally while others feed by day.
There are sea cucumbers that hardly move while others are more active often perching on tall sponges to feed.
Sea cucumbers often attract hitch-hikers like shrimps and crabs that crawl over their skin, also pearlfish that enter via their anus.
As a means of defence sea cucumbers can expel their intestines or respiratory organs in the form of sticky threads, but these can quickly regenerate.
Juveniles often mimic sea slugs.
Some types of sea cucumbers are edible and considered a delicacy in the Far East countries. (edit) Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapta_maculata