''Actinopyga miliaris'', commonly known as the hairy blackfish, is a species of

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuria ...

in the family

Holothuriidae Holothuriidae is a family of sea cucumbers, a type of echinoderm. Description Members of the family Holothuriidae have thick fleshy bodies and several rows of tube feet which are used for moving around and for adhering to the surface. The body ...

. It is native to the tropical West Indo-Pacific region and is harvested for food.

Description

''Actinopyga miliaris'' grows to a length of about , with a maximum width of . The body wall is rough and leathery, with a maximum width of . The bivium is black in coloration, and is covered in mucus and fine sediment. The body is elongated and cylindrical, is slightly arched dorsally and flattened ventrally. The bivium is also covered in long and slender papilles. The trivium, on the other hand, is white in coloration, and covered in many long and thick podia. The anus is surrounded by five strong, triangular anal teeth, and

Cuvierian tubules Cuvierian tubules are clusters of fine tubes located at the base of the respiratory tree in some sea cucumbers in the genera '' Bohadschia'', ''Holothuria'' and '' Pearsonothuria'', all of which are included in the family Holothuriidae. The tubule ...

seen in other sea cucumbers are absent.

Distribution and habitat

''Actinopyga miliaris'' is found off the coasts of Asia and Africa, in the tropical

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Its range extends from as far east as the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

to as far west as

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

, excluding the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It can also be found off the coasts of India, northern Australia, eastward to Fiji, Tuvalu, and Tonga, and almost everywhere off the coast of

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. It can be found in depths of , and is abundant on seagrass beds and rubble reef flats. It can also be commonly found on sandy beds, lagoon-islet reefs, and fringe reef flats.

Status

This species is harvested commercially for food throughout its range. It is used in the production of bêche-de-mer, which is consumed as a delicacy. In

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, it is used as a

famine food A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as ...

in times of hardship. It is harvested by 17 countries and island states in the Western Central Pacific. Because it is easy to collect by hand, it is over-exploited in many areas, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that populations have declined by 60 to 90% over about 50% of its range. Due to this, it has assessed the conservation status as vulnerable.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1923484 Holothuriidae Fauna of the Indian Ocean Fauna of the Pacific Ocean Animals described in 1834 Taxa named by Joseph Paul Gaimard Taxa named by Jean René Constant Quoy