All of the commercial species of sea cucumber are in Order Aspidochirota, and Order Dentrochirota. The genera that have commercial value are listed below:
Order Aspidochirota
Family Holothuriidae
Genus Actinopyga
Bohadschia
Holothuria
Microthele
Halaoeima
Family Stichopodidae
Genus Stichopus
Thelenota
Order Denchochirota
Family Cucumariidae
Genus Cucumaria
Thyone
The Aspidochirotida is the most important Order because majority of it's member are large, thick bodied, having numerous papillae. The two important families in this Order are the Holothuriidae and the Stichopodidae. The large tentacled Dendrochirota are of much less commercial importance due to the fact that most species of the Order are small, less than 5 cm. Typically, sea cucumber suitable for beche-de-mer grow to size between 30–50cm, 8–10cm width having body wall thickness between 8–10mm. The wet weight varies from 0.8–1.5kg. The minimum commercial size of fresh sea cucumber should be at least 10 cm, or about 5 cm after dried. Even through small sea cucumber may make a saleable product, but cleaning and processing costs would be too high to justify their use. Moreover the small sea cucumbers do not command the same high prices as the large ones.
In Indonesian coastal zone, about 23 species of sea cucumber were recorded (Koningsberger, 1904). At present, about 5 species are now commercially utilized in tripang trade. Among of those are:
Holothuria nobilis (black sea cucumber)
H. vacabunda (black sea cucumber)
H. vatiensis (red sea cucumber)
H. marmorata (brown sea cucumber)
H. scabra (sand sea cucumber) (Fig. 1)
Since most of the importer reacted mostly to quality of the product rather than species and method of processing, more species can be expedited to add into the list. More details study on potential species suitable for the beche-de-mer have to be carried out.
Sea cucumber are found in abundance in Lampung, East Java, West Nusatenngara, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast sulawesi, Maluku and Irian Jaya.
