Sea Urchin Gathering

Title

Sea Urchin Gathering

Artist

Michaela Perryman

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Sea Urchin skeletons on a beach in Cornwall UK, England

Sometimes sea urchins are called the porcupines of the sea. Like a porcupine's quills, sea urchins count on their long spines to deter hungry predators from making them a snack. In fact, the sea urchin gets its name from an Old English word for the spiny hedgehog, a land animal similar to the American porcupine. You can pick up most sea urchins without getting harmed--except for the long-spined sea urchin found in south Florida, whose poisonous sharp spines can penetrate human skin and break off. In cooler waters up north, more harmless varieties like the purple and green sea urchins predominate.

Sea urchins belong to the phylum Echinodermata--the same group as sea stars, sand dollars, sea lilies and sea cucumbers. Although difficult to see through all the spines, sea urchins also have a hard outer body like that of its relatives. Their outer skeleton--called a test--is made up of ten fused plates that encircle the the sea urchin like the slices of an orange. Every other section has holes through which the sea urchin can extend its tubed feet. These feet are controlled by a water vascular system. By changing the amount of water inside, the animal can extend or contract the feet to move about. Sea stars move around the same way (to view a movie of how sea stars move (~1.6M), click here). Mainly sea urchins use their feet to hang on to the bottom while feeding, but they can move fast, walking on their feet, their spines, or even their teeth.

Featured in
Seen but Not Noticed 30/05/2020
England, Scotland, Wales 30/05/2020
Positive Energy 04/06/2020
Trick and Treat of Nature 05/06/2020
Coastal Counties UK 08/02/2024

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Uploaded

May 30th, 2020

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