---
title: White-threads Sea Cucumber (Holothuria leucospilota)
scientific_name: Holothuria leucospilota
common_name: White-threads Sea Cucumber
taxon: Sea cucumber
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2026-08-05T23:57:33.630Z
updated: 2026-08-07T21:12:51.244Z
tags: White-threads Sea Cucumber, Holothuria leucospilota, Sea cucumber, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/invertebrate/echinoderms/sea-cucumber/white-threads-sea-cucumber
---

# White-threads Sea Cucumber (*Holothuria leucospilota*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Sea cucumber (*Holothuroidea*)
- **Size:** up to 40 cm
- **Depth:** 0-15 m
- **Diet:** Detritivore
- **Activity:** Cathemeral
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Shallow rubble and rock, body wedged under cover
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- soft black body, often bloated and shapeless
- front end hidden under rock, rear exposed
- masses of sticky white threads when disturbed
- length up to 40 cm

A soft black sea cucumber reaching about 40 cm (16 in), with a body wall so flexible that the animal looks bloated in one moment and stretched thin the next. There are no bright markings and no prominent papillae - just a dark, slightly sticky cylinder, usually with the front half jammed under a rock and the rear lying out in the open.

That is the normal posture on shallow rubble and rock down to about 15 m (50 ft): tentacles working the sediment in the shelter of the boulder while the exposed end faces whatever comes. Whatever comes usually regrets it. Provoked, the animal releases a mass of Cuvierian tubules through the vent - white threads that expand many times in water, adhere instantly and carry saponins strong enough to deter fish. They will stick to a glove just as well, and are hard to get off, which is reason enough to admire from a distance. It is among the most abundant large invertebrates in the shallows here, so the demonstration is easy to trigger and best left untriggered.

## Also known as

- **English:** White Thread Fish
- **Japanese:** ニセクロナマコ
- **Russian:** Голотурия белонитчатая

## Scientific synonyms

- *Halodeima dicorona* Heding, 1934
- *Holothuria (Halodeima) dicorona* (Heding, 1934)
- *Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota* (Brandt, 1835)
- *Holothuria gelatinosa* Heding, 1939
- *Holothuria homoea* Clark, 1938
- *Holothuria infesta* Sluiter, 1901
- *Holothuria lagoena* Haacke, 1880
- *Holothuria lamperti* Ludwig, 1886
- *Holothuria oxurropa* Sluiter, 1887
- *Holothuria vagabunda* Selenka, 1867
- *Stichopus (Gymnochirota) leucospilota* Brandt, 1835

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