WHATSTHATFISH
Sea stars & urchins

Slender Sea Cucumber

Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens

Also known as: Bottleneck Sea Cucumber, Brown-spotted Sea Cucumber, Impatient Sea Cucumber, Mottled Sea Cucumber, Restless Sea Cucumber, Sandfish, Tripang, Holothuria impatiens

Adult
No adult photos yetSeen one? Be the first to add a photo of this stage.Add the first photo
01

Overview

Found over coarse, rubble and sandy areas, in seagrass beds and in crevices of reef flats and reef slopes.
They feed nocturnally on organic matter.

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

Body shape
spikey
Behaviour
nocturnal

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Circumtropical
LIVES IN

Found over coarse, rubble and sandy areas, in seagrass beds and in crevices of reef flats and reef slopes.

04

Adult photos 0

05

Discussion

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

No comments yet. Seen one, or got a question about it? Start the discussion.

    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumEchinodermata
    3. classHolothuroidea
    4. orderHolothuriida
    5. familyHolothuriidae
    6. genusHolothuria
    7. speciesHolothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens (Forsskål, 1775)

    SourcesWoRMSIUCN Red List

    06

    More in the family

    Sea Cucumbers (Holothuriidae)