---
title: Tigertail Sea Cucumber (Holothuria hilla)
scientific_name: Holothuria hilla
common_name: Tigertail Sea Cucumber
taxon: Sea cucumber
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.620Z
updated: 2026-08-20T17:09:45.986Z
tags: Tigertail Sea Cucumber, Holothuria hilla, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/tigertail-sea-cucumber
---

# Tigertail Sea Cucumber (*Holothuria hilla*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 30 cm
- **Depth:** 0-20 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Under coral slabs and rubble in the shallows
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- brown body with rows of conical papillae
- papillae tipped yellow to orange
- slender tapering shape
- length up to 30 cm

A slender brown sea cucumber to about 30 cm (12 in), its back and sides carrying regular rows of conical papillae with pale yellow or orange tips. The overall effect at torchlight is of a dark body speckled with small bright points, and the tapering shape separates it from the blunter, heavier species that share the same rubble.

It spends daylight wedged under coral slabs and in rubble in the shallows, from the waterline to about 20 m (65 ft), with at most a tail end protruding, and comes out after dark to sweep sand and dead coral for organic film. This is one of the species a night diver meets on almost every dive over broken ground once the habit of looking under ledges takes hold. Handled roughly it can expel part of its gut - a defense that works by giving a predator something to eat while the animal withdraws, and the lost tissue regrows within weeks. Impressive as that is, it costs the animal a great deal, so a good look is better repaid than a poke.

## Also known as

- **Japanese:** フジナマコ, リュウキュウフジナマコ
- **Russian:** Голотурия-тигрохвост

## Scientific synonyms

- *Holothuria (Fistularia) hilla* Lesson, 1830
- *Holothuria (Thymiosycia) decorata* von Marenzeller, 1882
- *Holothuria decorata* von Marenzeller, 1882
- *Holothuria fasciola* Quoy & Gaimard, 1834
- *Holothuria fuscopunctata* Quoy & Gaimard, 1834
- *Holothuria hilla* Lesson, 1830
- *Holothuria macleari* Bell, 1884
- *Holothuria patagonica* Perrier R., 1904
- *Labidodemas leucopus* Haacke, 1880
- *Labidodemas neglectum* Haacke, 1880
- *Stichopus gyrifer* Selenka, 1867

## Range

Kenya, North Pacific Ocean

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/tigertail-sea-cucumber)*
*Updated: August 20, 2026*