---
title: Brown Sandfish (Bohadschia vitiensis)
scientific_name: Bohadschia vitiensis
common_name: Brown Sandfish
taxon: Sea cucumber
conservation_status: DD - Data Deficient
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.591Z
updated: 2026-08-07T21:12:47.911Z
tags: Brown Sandfish, Bohadschia vitiensis, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/brown-sandfish
---

# Brown Sandfish (*Bohadschia vitiensis*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 30 cm
- **Depth:** 0-25 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Cathemeral
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Sheltered sand flats and lagoon floors
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** DD - Data Deficient

## How to recognise it

- pale brown with darker blotches, sand-encrusted
- smooth body wall, no anal teeth
- sticky white threads released when disturbed
- length up to 30 cm

A pale brown sea cucumber growing to about 30 cm (12 in), marked with darker blotches and usually so thickly coated in adhering sand that the pattern only shows where the animal has recently moved. The skin is smooth and slightly sticky to the touch, without papillae or anal teeth.

It lives on sheltered sand flats and lagoon floors from the shallows to roughly 25 m (80 ft), lying fully exposed and feeding continuously, a slow conveyor turning sediment over. Handled or attacked, it discharges Cuvierian tubules - white threads that lengthen dramatically in water and glue themselves to anything they touch. The threads regenerate over several weeks, which makes casual provocation an expensive nuisance for the animal. Juveniles of this species look nothing like the adults: they are boldly patterned in dark bands and are easily mistaken for a different species entirely, a change that has caused repeated confusion in the literature. Records from this coast are scattered but consistent, mostly from calm sandy bays rather than exposed reef.

## Also known as

- **English:** Brown Sandfish
- **French:** Holothurie des Fidji
- **Italian:** Oloturia di sabbia bruna, Oloturia bruna
- **Japanese:** チズナマコ, フタスジナマコ
- **Russian:** Богадшия песчаная
- **TH:** ปลิงสีทอง

## Scientific synonyms

- *Bohadschia bivittata* (Mitsukuri, 1912)
- *Bohadschia similis* (Semper, 1868)
- *Bohadschia tenuissima* (Semper, 1868)
- *Holothuria bivittata* Mitsukuri, 1912
- *Holothuria clemens* Ludwig, 1875
- *Holothuria similis* Semper, 1868
- *Holothuria tenuissima* Semper, 1868
- *Holothuria vitiensis* Semper, 1868

## Range

Kenya, Madagascar, Viti Levu

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/brown-sandfish)*
*Updated: August 7, 2026*