Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens
Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens. Sea Cucumber collected from a tidal pool in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, January 2016. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches).
Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens. Sea Cucumber collected from a tidal pool in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, February 2017. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens. Underwater photography taken in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, October 2019. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens. Underwater photography taken in the greater Loreto area, Baja California Sur, May 2023. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.
Phylogeny: The Impatient Sea Cucumber, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens (Forsskål, 1775), is a member of the Holothuriidae Family of Sea Cucumbers. The Holothuria genus is one of five genera in the Holothuridae Family. There are one hundred and sixty species in the Holothuria genus, fifteen of which are within the subgenus Thymiosycia. They are also known as the Bottleneck Sea Cucumber and the Brown-spotted Sea Cucumber and in Mexico as Pepino de Mar Manchas Pardas. There are currently no accepted subspecies or varieties of this species. The genus name Holothuria comes from the Greek word meaning “water polyp”. The subgenus Thymiosycia comes from the Greek words comparing these sea cucumbers to the warty surface of a thyme plant or fig tree. The name impatiens comes from the Latin and mean “impatient”. Perhaps this refers to how quickly this species expels their sticky Cuvier’s tubules.
Morphology: Impatient Sea Cucumbers have a slender, conical, or bottle-shaped body. The mouth is located at the narrow end on the body. The mouth is encircled by twenty short, white, tentacles, though they are often retracted from view. The exterior is covered with conical protuberances of varying height. Impatient Sea Cucumbers may be whitish, gray, brown, or reddish in color. There are usually 5 to 7 darker bands around the narrow part of the body. The Impatient Sea Cucumber reaches 16.2 cm (6.5 inches) in length. Some sources extend this length to 25 cm (9.8 inches).
Habitat and Distribution: Impatient Sea Cucumbers are usually found hiding in caves and crevasses of the reef, under coral rubble, or between boulders during daylight hours. At night they extend their bodies over sandy substrates to feed. They are found from the lower intertidal zone to depths of 67 m (220 feet). They may be found in lagoons, reef flats, or open water. Impatient Sea Cucumbers are nearly circumtropical in distribution. They are found all Mexican waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with the exception that they are absent from north of Bahía Rosario, Baja California, along the central and northwest coasts of the Baja Peninsula.
Diet: Impatient Sea Cucumbers are detritivores. They ingest sea floor sediment and digest the organic matter. The remaining sand and non-digestible matter is expelled.
Predators: Impatient Sea Cucumbers can expel sticky white filaments from their Cuvier’s glands. These filaments distract, confuse, and entangle potential predators. Even with this defense mechanism they are still prey for anemones, shore birds, crabs, fish, gastropods, octopuses, and sea stars.
Reproduction: Impatient Sea Cucumbers are gonochoric (male or female for life). They reproduce sexually through broadcast spawning, with external fertilization. The gametes form planktonic larva. The larva pass through several phases over a two month period. After this time they settle to the bottom to begin their benthic life.
Ecosystem Interactions: Impatient Sea Cucumbers engaging in any types of commensal, parasitic or symbiotic relationships has not been formally documented.
Human Interactions: The targeting of Impatient Sea Cucumbers by fisheries has not been documented, however they are probably the target of artisanal fisheries, as are other sea cucumber species. Otherwise, Impatient Sea Cucumbers have no direct impact on human activities. From a conservation perspective the the Impatient Sea Cucumber has not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a very wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Fistularia impatiens, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens bicolor, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens concolor, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens lutea, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens pulchra, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. bicolor, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. concolor, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. lutea, Holothuria (Thymiosycia) impatiens var. pulchra, Holothuria botellus, Holothuria fulva, Holothuria impatiens, Holothuria impatiens var. bicolor, Holothuria impatiens var. concolor, Holothuria impatiens var. lutea, Holothuria impatiens var. pulchra, and Holothuria ophidiana.