Species group · Sea urchins
Urchins
WAnimals has 4 species of urchin, spread across 4 families (Diadematidae, Echinidae, Spatangidae, Strongylocentrotidae).
- 4 species
- 4 families
- 146 countries
- 77 parks
- Length
- 5 cm – 17.6 cm
- Lifespan
- 8 – 20 years
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 4.
All 4 species of urchins on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Edible Sea Urchin
Echinus esculentus
Long-spined Urchin
Diadema antillarum
Purple Heart Urchin
Spatangus purpureus
Purple Sea Urchin
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
Conservation status
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 146 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
- Al Hoceima2 species
- Alonissos y Esporadas del Norte2 species
- Archipielago de Cabrera2 species
- Arcipelago Toscano2 species
- Arrábida2 species
- Asinara2 species
- Brijuni2 species
- Burren2 species
- Cabo de Gata-Níjar2 species
- Calanques2 species
- Calzada del Gigante2 species
- Cinque Terre2 species
- Amorgos (pecio Le Grand Bleu)diving
- Bahía de Kotordiving
- Cabo de Creusdiving
- Cabo de Gata-Níjardiving
- Cabo de Palosdiving
- Cabo Grecodiving
Did you know…
It scrapes algae off rocks with its Aristotle's lantern, made up of five calcareous teeth.
From Edible Sea Urchin
A large female can release as many as 20 million eggs.
From Edible Sea Urchin
It is the only sea urchin listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
From Edible Sea Urchin
Its long hollow spines break off easily inside the skin on contact and release a toxin that causes intense, lasting pain.
From Long-spined Urchin
In 1983 and 1984 a disease of unknown origin killed more than 95 % of the Caribbean population in little over a year, and without its grazing many reefs shifted from being dominated by coral to being dominated by algae, a change they have still not recovered from.
From Long-spined Urchin
In 2022 a further mass mortality, attributed to a ciliate protozoan, struck the recovering populations again.
From Long-spined Urchin
It has lost the radial symmetry typical of echinoderms and regained a bilateral one, with a front and a back, an adaptation to a buried and mobile life.
From Purple Heart Urchin
It maintains a clean-water shaft to the surface using specialised tube feet that build and clean the tunnel.
From Purple Heart Urchin