Leopard Sea Cucumber

Bohadschia argus

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Holothuroidea
Order: Holothuriida
Family: Holothuriidae
Genus: Bohadschia
Species: Bohadschia argus

The leopard sea cucumber (Bohadschia argus) is a large, sausage-shaped sea cucumber with a pale body covered in dark, ringed eyespots, like a leopard's coat.

It grows to about 50 cm and crawls slowly over sand and rubble, sweeping up sediment with its feeding tentacles and digesting the organic matter in it. When threatened it can shoot out sticky white threads from its rear end to entangle predators.

The leopard sea cucumber is found across the Indo-Pacific, including the Philippines, where it lives on sandy patches around reefs. It often hosts small animals such as the emperor shrimp on its skin.