Holothuria scabra

The sandfish sea cucumber is a large, sausage-shaped echinoderm with a firm, sand-encrusted grey-white body marked by darker transverse bands on its upper surface. It moves slowly across the seafloor using tube feet, ingesting sediment and extracting organic matter and microorganisms as food. In doing so, it aerates and recycles substrate, playing an important role in nutrient cycling and maintaining sediment health in shallow marine ecosystems.

This species occurs across a broad Indo-Pacific and western Indian Ocean range, from East Africa and the Red Sea through South and Southeast Asia to Australia and numerous Pacific island nations. It inhabits shallow marine and coastal environments, including sandy and seagrass-associated intertidal and subtidal zones, mangrove-fringed lagoons, and occasionally brackish or nearshore freshwater-influenced habitats.

Holothuria scabra is heavily targeted by fisheries supplying the international "bêche-de-mer" (dried sea cucumber) trade, where it is highly valued for food markets, particularly in East Asia. Intense, often unregulated harvesting, including of juveniles before they reach reproductive maturity, has driven substantial population declines across much of its range, with many local stocks severely depleted or commercially extinct.

Conservation responses include fishery closures, minimum size limits, harvest quotas, and periodic bans implemented in several range states, alongside growing investment in sea cucumber aquaculture and stock-enhancement programs designed to restock depleted reefs and reduce pressure on wild populations. Community-based management initiatives have also been piloted in parts of the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Despite these measures, enforcement remains inconsistent and illegal harvesting continues in many areas. Population trends remain downward overall, and the species' long-term recovery depends on stronger regulation, sustained restocking efforts, and reduced fishing pressure across its range.