Indonesia is known as an area with a very high diversity of marine organisms, distributed in a total area of 5.2 million km 2 . It is difficult to determine the main areas where particular species are found because fishermen are scattered over a vast area and protect their information about precise fishing locations (Tuwo 2004; Purwati 2005; Choo 2008). Furthermore, it is difficult to identify the trepang species that enter the market, partly because the local names for species differ from area to area, and because the trepang traded are in the form of processed products (dried or gutted and salted) which damage the taxonomic characteristics.