sea cucumbers text index | photo index
Phylum Echinodermata > Class Holothuroidea
Remarkable sea cucumber
Holothuria notabilis
Family Holothuriidae
updated Apr 2020

Where seen? This large long smooth sea cucumber with dark markings is sometimes seen buried near seagrasses on some of our shores. Those seen were buried in the sand near the low water mark, with only a tip of the body sticking out. Elsewhere, it prefers lagoons and seagrass meadows with sandy ground and can be found in high densities.

Features: 10-12cm long. Body soft cylindrical and tapered at the back side. Irregular darker blotches, about 8-10 blotches in 2 rows, on a body colour that varies from yellow, orange to dark or light brown. The underside is usually paler with fewer dark markings. Tube feet seem small and stumpy. It has a small downward facing mouth with 20 small yellow feeding tentacles. It can release from its backside, sticky white cylindrical tubes called Cuvierian tubules, but it rarely does so.

Baby cucumbers: It is reaches sexual maturity at 9cm in length or 60g in weight. It spawns once a year.

Human uses:
It is among the sea cucumbers harvested in Madagascar, all for export to China. It is collected by women and children by wading at low tide and by men snorkeolling at coastal sites from canoes.

Changi, Aug 08

Underside pale with paler markings.

Kusu Island, May 07

Few stumpy tube feet.

Changi, Apr 10

Opening at the tapered end is the anus.

Can produce Cuvierian tubules but rarely does so.

Pulau Semakau, Aug 11

Remarkable sea cucumbers on Singapore shores
On wildsingapore flickr

Other sightings on Singapore shores


Chek Jawa, Oct 07
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
photo courtesy of Robin Ngiam Wen Jiang
Ossicles of the sea cucumber
Photos shared Robin Ngiam Wen Jiang,
see also his blog.
photo courtesy of Robin Ngiam Wen Jiang


Changi Carpark 7, May 21
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.


Changi, Jun 10
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.

Changi Carpark 7, Jun 23
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.


Tanah Merah, Jun 16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

East Coast Park, Aug 18
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.


Berlayar Creek, Oct 15
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Berlayar Creek, Oct 15
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.

Berlayar Creek, Oct 15
Photo shared by Jonathan Tan on facebook.


Seringat-Kias, Aug 12
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr.


Cyrene Reef, Jul 10
Photo shared by Toh Chay Hoon on her blog.


Cyrene Reef, Jul 10
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.

Acknowledgement
With grateful thanks to Robin Ngiam Wen Jiang for finding out and sharing the identity and providing photos of the ossicles.

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