Holothuria fuscopunctata

Holothuria fuscopunctata, called the elephant trunkfish, is a sea cucumber from the family Holothuriidae. It lives in the shallow waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific and belongs to the subgenus Microthele, so its full scientific name is Holothuria (Microthele) fuscopunctata.

Description

This is a big sea cucumber. It can grow up to 70 cm long, though it is more often around half that size, and can weigh as much as 4.5 kg. Its body wall is thick and golden-brown, covered with darker spots and dark brown wrinkles.

The underside is whitish. Around its mouth are twenty thick brown tentacles, and its anus has a black band around it. The cloaca is large and black, but the animal lacks Cuvierian tubules.

Distribution and habitat

The species has a wide range across the tropical Indo-Pacific, from Madagascar and East Africa to Japan, China, Australia, the Mariana Islands, Palau, and New Caledonia. It lives down to depths of 30 m.

It is common in some areas but rare in the Philippines, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. Off the African coast, it is mostly found on sandy seabeds and in seagrass meadows. In the Central Pacific, it mainly lives on reef slopes and coral rubble, though it also occurs in seagrass beds.

Biology

It feeds by grazing on organic material from the seabed. The species matures slowly and has low fecundity. Males and females are separate, and breeding happens during the warm season, from December to January.

Status

Sea cucumbers are eaten in the Central Pacific. H. fuscopunctata is not highly valued, but people eat it as a poverty food during hard times, such as after cyclones.

It is mostly collected by skin-diving, and it may face more pressure as other, more popular species become rarer. Fisheries exist in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Western Pacific (including the Torres Strait), and Tuvalu. The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently lists it as "least concern," but its low fertility makes it vulnerable to over-exploitation.