Abstract: Holothuria scabra Jaeger, or sandfish, is a commercially valuable sea cucumber species predominantly inhabiting tropical coastal regions. In this study, two laboratory trials were conducted to assess the influence of water temperature and body weight on the metabolism and survival rate of H. scabra. First, a metabolism experiment was conducted with four groups of different body weights, namely, XS (0.68±0.33 g), S (13.52±2.64 g), M (33.43±5.79 g) and L (51.16±10.06 g) exposed to eight experimental water temperatures (14~35 ℃), representing the water temperature range in the natural habitat and aquaculture environment of H. scabra in China. Subsequently, four groups of H. scabra were cultured in temperature-controlled tanks at eight experimental water temperatures for 15 days to determine the survival rate. The results showed a power function relationship between OCR_ind/AER_ind and body weight expressed as R_ind=aW^b (0<b<1,with the exception of AER_ind at 35 ℃). The relationship between body weight-specific OCR_mass/AER_mass and water temperature also followed a power function, R_mass=aT^b (b>1). For all four groups of H. scabra, both OCR_mass and AER_mass increased with rising water temperature. The maximum OCR_mass occurred at 32~35 ℃, while the maximum AER_mass was observed at 29~32 ℃, followed by a decrease as the temperature continued to rise. Water temperature had a significant effect on both OCR_mass and AER_mass across all groups (P<0.05). Furthermore, the interaction between water temperature and body weight had a highly significant effect on OCR_mass and AER_mass (P<0.01). Q₁₀ indicated that low water temperature had a greater impact on the metabolism of H. scabra than high water temperature. In the survival trial of H. scabra, all individuals in the XS group perished at 14 ℃, while the L group exhibited the highest survival rate at this temperature (83.3±11.8%). As the temperature increased to 20~32 ℃, the survival rate for the S, M, and L groups reached 100%; the XS group only achieved 100% survival at 23 ℃. When the temperature rose to 35 ℃, survival rates in the XS and S groups dropped to 30.0±8.2% and 79.2±5.9%, respectively, while the M and L groups maintained high survival rates of 94.4±7.9% and 100%. Larger individuals exhibited significantly stronger temperature adaptability, particularly under the water temperature conditions of 14 ℃ and 35 ℃. The study indicates that low temperature has a more significant impact on the metabolism of H. scabra, and larger individuals exhibit stronger tolerance to temperature stress. The optimal water temperature range for the physiological activities of H. scabra is 26~29 ℃. The suitable survival temperature ranges for juvenile and medium-to-large individuals are 23~32 ℃ and 20~32 ℃, respectively. These findings provide critical data to support water temperature management in the aquaculture of H. scabra.