Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.

The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer (lit. "sea-spade") in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, trepang (or trīpang) in Indonesian

Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

, namako in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 and in the Philippines it is called balatan. In Malaysian

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

 it is known as the gamat

Gamat

The word Gamat, the Malay word for sea cucumber, refers to medicinal remedies derived from several species of the Holothuroidea family. The golden sea cucumber is commonly used...

.

Most cultures in East

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 and Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 regard sea cucumbers as a delicacy

Delicacy

A delicacy is a food item that is considered highly desirable in certain cultures. Often this is because of unusual flavors or characteristics or because it is rare....

.

There are a number of dishes made with sea cucumber as this ingredient is expected to have a strong cultural emphasis on health.