---
title: Bottleneck Sea Cucumber (Holothuria impatiens)
scientific_name: Holothuria impatiens
common_name: Bottleneck Sea Cucumber
taxon: Sea cucumber
conservation_status: DD - Data Deficient
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.626Z
updated: 2026-08-08T16:04:40.290Z
tags: Bottleneck Sea Cucumber, Holothuria impatiens, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/bottleneck-sea-cucumber
---

# Bottleneck Sea Cucumber (*Holothuria impatiens*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 30 cm
- **Depth:** 0-25 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Crevices and under rocks on rubble bottoms
- **Conservation status:** DD - Data Deficient

## How to recognise it

- narrow neck behind the head, bottle-shaped outline
- rough warty skin, mottled brown and cream
- body usually hidden with only the head out
- length up to 30 cm

A rough-skinned sea cucumber to about 30 cm (12 in), mottled brown and cream, with an outline no other local species shares: the front narrows into a distinct neck behind the feeding tentacles, giving a bottle-shaped profile. The skin is warty and gritty to the touch, thanks to a dense layer of calcareous ossicles just beneath the surface.

It lives pressed into crevices and beneath rocks on rubble bottoms from the shallows down to about 25 m (80 ft), and is far more often seen as a head and neck protruding from a hole than as a whole animal. Feeding happens after dark, when the tentacles work the sediment around the entrance while the body stays anchored inside. Forsskål described it in 1775 from material collected on this coast, and the epithet - impatient - refers to how quickly it withdraws when touched. It is genuinely common on broken ground, but easily overlooked precisely because the part on show is small and the rest is out of sight.

## Also known as

- **English:** Slender Sea Cucumber, Brown spotted Sea Cucumber, Impatient Sea Cucumber
- **French:** Holothurie bouteille
- **Spanish:** Holoturia cuello de botella
- **Japanese:** イサミナマコ
- **Russian:** Голотурия нетерпеливая
- **ID:** Pulut

## Scientific synonyms

- *Fistularia impatiens* Forsskål, 1775
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens bicolor* Clark, 1938
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens concolor* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens lutea* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens pulchra* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. bicolor* Clark, 1938
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. concolor* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. lutea* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. pulchra* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria botellus* Selenka, 1867
- *Holothuria fulva* Quoy & Gaimard, 1834
- *Holothuria impatiens* (Forsskål, 1775)
- *Holothuria impatiens var. bicolor* Clark, 1938
- *Holothuria impatiens var. concolor* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria impatiens var. lutea* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria impatiens var. pulchra* Clark, 1921
- *Holothuria ophidiana* Quoy & Gaimard, 1834

## Range

Belize, Caribbean Sea, Colombia, Cuba, Djibouti, Eastern Africa & Madagascar, Eastern Caribbean, Federal Republic of Somalia, Greece, Gulf of Mexico, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Lesser Antilles, Madagascar, Mediterranean Sea, Mexico, Mozambique, North Pacific Ocean, Puerto Rican Exclusive Economic Zone, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/bottleneck-sea-cucumber)*
*Updated: August 8, 2026*