It is found in the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and Bay of Bengal to China and Japan.

Spawning takes place in this species between mid-June and early August, usually in the late afternoon.

The larvae are planktonic at first before settling on the seabed, growing feeding tentacles and metamorphosing into juvenile sea cucumbers.

[2] Pseudocnus echinatus has been researched as a possible source of bioactive molecules and has been found to contain a galactose-specific lectin with haemolytic activity.

This lectin has the ability to block the development of Plasmodium, the causal agent of malaria, when it is expressed in genetically modified Anopheles mosquitoes.