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.
- brown body with rows of conical papillae
- papillae tipped yellow to orange
- slender tapering shape
- length up to 30 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no known threats occurring to this species. However, it is fished in parts of its range.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
