Echinometra mathaei Pink Sea Urchin Sea Hedgehog Echinoderma Echinozoa Echinoidea Regularia Echinometridae

Description

Origin : Thailand

Size : cm 3.5-4.5

Echinometra mathaei Pink Sea Urchin cm 3.5-4.5 Sea Hedgehog Echinoderma Echinozoa Echinoidea Regularia Echinometridae.
Famiglia: Echinometridae.
Common name: The Burrowing Urchin.
Syn. Echinus mathaei, Echinometra brunea, Echinometra heteropora, Echinometra megastoma, Echinometra microtuberculata, Echinometra picta, Echinus mathaei, Ellipsechinus decaryi, Ellipsechinus matheyi, Ellipsechinus pictus.

Echinometra mathaei is a sea urchin belonging to the Echinometridae family. It lives in the shallow areas of the Indo-Pacific.
It has a minimum diameter of about 5 cm. The color is very variable, usually quite dark. The spines are sometimes purplish and green with purple tips or completely greenish with purple tips.
This species is found in the coral reefs of the tropical areas of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, at depths of up to 140 m. Its range extends from Madagascar, the coasts of East Africa and the Red Sea to Hawaii.
This species uses its spines to dig cavities in the basaltic or calcareous rocks where it lives, from which it only emerges at night to feed. Due to its habits, this urchin causes bioerosion of coral reefs. In areas where fishing is a frequent activity, urchin numbers have increased, resulting in damage to the reef. A shrimp hides in the spines of this hedgehog for protection.
It is preyed on both by fish and moray eels and by Ophiura and gastropod molluscs.
Its diet consists mainly of algae.
As in other sea urchins, in this species fertilization is external and reproduction occurs by releasing gametes into the water. The larvae are planktonic, and when they settle on the seabed, they undergo a metamorphosis into juvenile sea urchins. In the Gulf of Suez, the northernmost area of its range, reproduction occurs in summer and autumn, while in warmer waters it can occur throughout the year.