Sea Urchins
Benthic dwelling echinoderms which are characterized by their intimidating appearance, while baring unusual anatomy.
Sea Urchins belong to the class echinoidea within the echinoderm phylum, they inhabit every kind of ocean and can live in a wide variety of depth zones. They are most well known for their unusual and intimidating appearance, shaped like a round ball covered in multiple sharp movable spines which ward off predators. Although hard to notice, urchins alike actually possess multiple rows of tube feet allowing them to slowly shuffle around the seabed. They also possess a unique mouth structure which is called the “Aristotle’s Lantern”, this structure consists of five sharp teeth that allows it to eat kelp and algae.
This is a photograph of a sea urchins mouth (Aristotle’s Lantern). The five teeth are shown, and this part of their body is located at the very bottom of their body.
Why Sea Urchins may be problematic
In certain regions, sea urchins are considered an invasive species and possess a huge threat to the aquatic ecosystem and systems of kelp forests, this is due to the decline of their natural predators such as sea otters. Examples of this include in Australia where due to overpopulation sea urchins have destroyed kelp forests and created urchin barrens which harms the local wildlife, and in California the same issue is present in marine ecosystems with the purple sea urchin.
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