---
title: White Teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva)
scientific_name: Holothuria fuscogilva
common_name: White Teatfish
taxon: Sea cucumber
conservation_status: EN - Endangered
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.613Z
updated: 2026-08-14T11:57:50.999Z
tags: White Teatfish, Holothuria fuscogilva, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/white-teatfish
---

# White Teatfish (*Holothuria fuscogilva*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 60 cm
- **Depth:** 5-40 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Rare
- **Habitat:** Sand and seagrass in deeper lagoons
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **CITES:** Appendix II
- **Conservation status:** EN - Endangered

## How to recognise it

- heavy pale body blotched with brown
- row of teat-like projections along each side
- very thick body wall
- length up to 60 cm

A heavy, pale sea cucumber blotched with brown, reaching about 60 cm (24 in) and unmistakable at close range: a row of blunt teat-like projections runs along each flank, and the body wall is thicker than in any other local species. Large individuals are startlingly solid, closer to a sandbag than to the soft animals more often met in the shallows.

It occupies sand and seagrass in deeper lagoons, from about 5 m to 40 m (16 to 130 ft), keeping to open bottom and feeding at night. That body wall is exactly what makes it one of the most valuable sea cucumbers in world trade, and stocks across the tropics have collapsed under the pressure; the species was listed on CITES Appendix II in 2020, so international trade now requires permits. It is genuinely uncommon here, and a sighting is worth reporting rather than assuming it is one of the ordinary brown species. Sea cucumbers of this size take years to mature, which is why a fished-out area can stay empty for a decade after the boats move on.

## Also known as

- **English:** White Teatfish, Bawny white, White Mammyfish
- **French:** Holothurie blanche à mamelles, Le tété blanc
- **Russian:** Голотурия буро-жёлтая
- **BIS:** Waet Titfis
- **FIJ:** Sucuwalu
- **ID:** Susu Putih, Bissawa
- **SIN:** Preema Attaya, Prima
- **SW:** Pauni Myeupe
- **TAM:** Kal Attai
- **TON:** Huhuvalu Hinehina

## Scientific synonyms

- *Holothuria fuscogilva* Cherbonnier, 1980

## Range

Seychelles

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/white-teatfish)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*