WHATSTHATFISH
Sea stars & urchins

Herrmann's Sea Cucumber

Stichopus herrmanni

Also known as: Curryfish, Curryfish Herrmanni, Curryfish Sea Cucumber, Golden Sea Cucumber, Herrmann's Sea Cucumber, Holothorian Sea Cucumber, Many-coloured Sea Cucumber, Sand Fish, Tripang, Variegated Sea Cucumber

VUVulnerableIUCN Red List, 2013
Adult
@fishx6 · lembeh, Indonesia · August 20081 / 19
01

Overview

Found on mud, rubble, sand, and seagrass beds, in shallow waters of coastal lagoons and seawards reefs, rich in algae growth.

Unlike the name this sea cucumber is a uniform colour all over, but the overall colour of each specimen can vary from place to place.

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.

02

How to identify

COLOURS
Body shape
warts

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Indo-Pacific
  • Exact location · 4
  • Country only · 15
LIVES IN

Found on mud, rubble, sand, and seagrass beds, in shallow waters of coastal lagoons and seawards reefs, rich in algae growth.

04

Adult photos 19

05

Discussion

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    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumEchinodermata
    3. classHolothuroidea
    4. orderSynallactida
    5. familyStichopodidae
    6. genusStichopus
    7. speciesStichopus herrmanni Semper, 1868

    SourcesWoRMSWikipedia

    06

    More in the family

    Sea Cucumbers (Stichopodidae)