DiscoverSpeciesOther invertebrates
Amberfish
Thelenota anax
- Usual depth6–46 m
- Water temperature24–29 °C
- Best monthsMarch, September, and October
- How commonOccasional
Photo credit: (c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Thelenota anax is a species of sea cucumber mostly found in the tropical, South Pacific Ocean. It is also commonly known as the amber fish. Some other names for T. anax are black teatfish, blackfish, brownfish, chief sea cucumber, curryfish, elephant trunk cucumber, lollyfish, tripang, and white-teat sea cucumber. T. anax is found on sandy ocean bottoms and often have ectocommensal relationships. They are commonly fished commercially and exported because of their medicinal properties and large size.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Thelenota anax”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 60 records
- February: 52 records
- March: 70 records
- April: 50 records
- May: 65 records
- June: 50 records
- July: 50 records
- August: 47 records
- September: 76 records
- October: 73 records
- November: 58 records
- December: 68 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 6–46 m · Deepest record: 67 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C
Photos
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Kelly Thomas Brown, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Amberfish, Amberfish Sea Cucumber, Giant Sea Cucumber
Names in 3 more languages
- French
- Holothurie géante
- Japanese
- アデヤカバイカナマコ
- Simplified Chinese
- 巨梅花參
Similar species
PineapplefishThelenota ananas
California sea cucumberApostichopus californicus
Japanese sea cucumberApostichopus japonicus
Australasian Brown Sea CucumberAustralostichopus mollis
GreenfishStichopus chloronotus
DragonfishStichopus horrens
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 190 open-data records from 1909 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 31, 2026.
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