---
title: Sea cucumber (Holothuroidea)
scientific_name: Holothuroidea
common_name: Sea cucumber
rank: Class
published: 2024-11-19T18:41:51.573Z
updated: 2026-08-03T21:14:17.557Z
tags: Sea cucumber, Holothuroidea, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber
---

# Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)

## Quick facts

- **Rank:** Class
- **Scientific name:** Holothuroidea
- **Body shape:** Invertebrate - Not a fish - coral, mollusc, crustacean, echinoderm and other invertebrate groups.
- **Species listed here:** 20

## How to recognise this group

- elongated cylindrical or sausage-shaped body
- retractable feeding tentacles around mouth
- sits or crawls slowly on substrate

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms with an elongated, soft, and cylindrical or sausage-shaped body. Their thick, leathery skin can be smooth, warty, or covered with papillae, typically appearing in muted greens, browns, or black, though some species exhibit bright patterns. Five rows of tube feet usually line their underside. Sizes vary from a few centimetres up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length. They possess a ring of retractable feeding tentacles around the mouth.

They occur commonly from intertidal zones to sandy lagoons, reef flats, and slopes, generally down to 40 metres (130 ft). Sea cucumbers are detritivores, constantly processing sediment for organic particles or filtering them from the water using their oral tentacles. Most species are slow-moving or sessile. When threatened, some species rapidly contract or expand their bodies; others expel sticky white Cuvierian tubules from the anus or eviscerate internal organs, which are later regenerated.


## Species (20)

- [Bannwarth's Sea Cucumber (Actinopyga bannwarthi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/bannwarths-sea-cucumber)
- [Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria atra)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/black-sea-cucumber)
- [Bottleneck Sea Cucumber (Holothuria impatiens)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/bottleneck-sea-cucumber)
- [Brown Sandfish (Bohadschia vitiensis)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/brown-sandfish)
- [Cousteau's Sea Cucumber (Bohadschia cousteaui)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/cousteaus-sea-cucumber)
- [Deepwater Redfish (Actinopyga echinites)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/deepwater-redfish)
- [False Warty Sea Cucumber (Stichopus pseudohorrens)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/false-warty-sea-cucumber)
- [Graeffe's Sea Cucumber (Pearsonothuria graeffei)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/graeffes-sea-cucumber)
- [Knobbly Sea Cucumber (Stichopus monotuberculatus)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/knobbly-sea-cucumber)
- [Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber (Euapta godeffroyi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/lions-paw-sea-cucumber)
- [Pineapple Sea Cucumber (Thelenota ananas)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/pineapple-sea-cucumber)
- [Snake Sea Cucumber (Synapta maculata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/snake-sea-cucumber)
- [Sponge Synaptid (Synaptula reciprocans)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/sponge-synaptid)
- [Steinitz's Sea Cucumber (Bohadschia steinitzi)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/steinitzs-sea-cucumber)
- [Surf Redfish (Actinopyga mauritiana)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/surf-redfish)
- [Tigertail Sea Cucumber (Holothuria hilla)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/tigertail-sea-cucumber)
- [Warty Sea Cucumber (Stichopus horrens)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/warty-sea-cucumber)
- [White Teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/white-teatfish)
- [White-threads Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/white-threads-sea-cucumber)
- [Yellow-spotted Sea Cucumber (Holothuria flavomaculata)](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/yellow-spotted-sea-cucumber)

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber)*
*Updated: August 3, 2026*