Pineapple Sea Cucumber
The pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas) is a large sea cucumber of Indo-Pacific reefs, covered in star-shaped warts like the skin of a pineapple. It can reach about 70 centimeters.
The pineapple sea cucumber (Thelenota ananas) is a large sea cucumber of Indo-Pacific reefs, covered in star-shaped warts like the skin of a pineapple. It can reach about 70 centimeters.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Pineapple Sea Cucumber in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Deuterostomia lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
A Reef Vacuum
It crawls over sand and rubble, shoveling sediment into its mouth with its tentacles and digesting organic particles. Large numbers recycle nutrients on the reef.
Valuable and Overharvested
The species is highly priced in the Asian trade in dried sea cucumber, and has been overfished in many places. It is considered threatened across much of its range. See Sandfish Sea Cucumber.
Defense
It carries toxins in its skin to deter predators. See Leopard Sea Cucumber.
Pineapple Sea Cucumber at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Thelenota ananas |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Echinodermata |
| Class | Holothuroidea |
| Order | Synallactida |
| Family | Stichopodidae |
| Field Guide group | Deuterostomia: Echinodermata (Sea Stars & Allies) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Massive Indo-Pacific reef-floor deposit feeder up to 70 cm long, covered in large, pointed, star-like fleshy dorsal papillae ('teats') with reddish-orange skin and peltate oral tentacles surrounding the mouth. |
| IUCN Red List status | Endangered (EN), assessed 2013 |
| Class | Holothuroidea |
| Length | Up to about 70 centimeters |
See Also
- Sandfish Sea Cucumber — a harvested sea cucumber
- Leopard Sea Cucumber — another reef sea cucumber