[1] They are also a food source for local and international markets with the majority of harvesting taking place in Brazil.

It is in the phylum Echinodermata (meaning spiny skin in Greek) which also includes sea stars and urchins.

[6] Echinoderms in general are gonochoristic which means there are two distinct sexes and this is true for the gray sea cucumber.

The sea cucumbers will aggregate in the months of June and July during the rainy season when there is high phytoplankton growth.

[7] Gray sea cucumbers are classified as meroplanktonic larva called auricularia once they hatch from the egg.

[citation needed] Holotuhria grisea is a coastal tropical species found in the Atlantic Ocean.

It generally prefers shallower waters and can be found in sand flats, seagrass beds, and reefs.

[1] Geographically, it can be found in Florida, the Caribbean islands, Central America, Brazil, and West Africa.

[9] This includes organic waste, algae, small aquatic invertebrates and other detritus that sinks to the bottom.

[10] The adults will also serve as prey to larger predators such as starfish, crabs, fish, and sea turtles which allows for energy from detritus to be transferred up the food web to higher trophic levels.

[11] Adult and juvenile sea cucumbers will often bury into the sand and will act as bioremediators while sifting through sediment while feeding.

[11] H. grisea also serves as a host for many parasites and symbiotic species which increases ecosystem biodiversity.

[3] Due to the unregulated fishery in South America along with the lack of data from it,[11] it is possible that the population could be heavily impacted, especially with a majority of the harvest being immature individuals.