---
title: Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber (Euapta godeffroyi)
scientific_name: Euapta godeffroyi
common_name: Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber
taxon: Sea cucumber
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.597Z
updated: 2026-08-08T16:04:32.670Z
tags: Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber, Euapta godeffroyi, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/lions-paw-sea-cucumber
---

# Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber (*Euapta godeffroyi*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 150 cm
- **Depth:** 1-20 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Rubble and sand near reef, out only after dark

## How to recognise it

- long worm-like body, no tube feet
- ring of feathery tentacles at the head end
- five rows of knobs with dark lines between them
- surface sticky to the touch

A slender, worm-like sea cucumber that stretches to about 1.5 m (5 ft) yet is barely thicker than a thumb, pale and translucent with five rows of small knobs and dark lines running between them. There are no tube feet at all - this is one of the footless sea cucumbers - and a ring of feathery tentacles fans out at the head end to mop food from the bottom.

It hides by day and emerges after dark, flowing over rubble and sand near reef, extending and contracting so freely that its apparent length changes minute by minute. The surface feels distinctly sticky: the skin is studded with microscopic anchor-shaped ossicles that catch on skin and gloves, and a startled animal may break in two rather than pull free. Both are reasons to look and not touch, since a body wall this thin tears easily. It is a regular find on night dives over sandy ground, and the combination of great length, feathery tentacles and complete absence of tube feet leaves nothing else it can be confused with here.

## Also known as

- **English:** Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber
- **Hebrew:** דביקה צהובת-פסים
- **French:** Holothurie-serpent collante
- **Italian:** Oloturia serpente di Godeffroy
- **Spanish:** Pepino de mar pata de león, Pepino de mar acordeón, Pepino tripa
- **Japanese:** トゲオオイカリナマコ
- **Chinese:** 真錨參
- **Russian:** Эуапта Годефруа

## Scientific synonyms

- *Euapta godefroyii* (Semper, 1868)
- *Synapta godeffroyi* Semper, 1868

## Range

Comoros, East Africa, Eastern Africa & Madagascar, Indian Ocean, Madagascar, North Pacific Ocean, Red Sea, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

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