One heck of a hitchhiker

[bigtankbigfish]

found this urchin in my reef today, he must have been in there for a few weeks when i added some live rock from my fowlr.
1. is he reef safe?
2. will it sting me when I try to take him out and put him back in fowlr?

 

[snakeblitz33]

It looks like a spiney urchin. They aren't poisenous to my knowledge. They will eat all the microfauna you have and they are especially good at getting rid of coralline algae I don't think he would be a problem in any tank, honestly. Good HH. XD

 

[superhero]

Hey BigTankBigFish... Great Hitchhiker!!! like Snake said they are no problem in a reef... but i have 2 pencil urchins in my reef and the only thing is that they will move some corals around by bumping into them, and mine are almost 4 inches across so they are pretty powerful... its been 2 times now that i unintentionally fragged my birdsnest because one of the little buggers knocked it over and some tips fell off when it hit the glass... so besides the occasional rearrangement or corals they are a great addition! Congrats on the Freebie!

 

[meowzer]

HMMM....I have a purple urchin that only eats algae, but Had 2 pencil urchins that ate kenya tree and an orange ric.....well one went to the notso LFS...and the other is in my sump.....

 

[whitebird]

there pretty cool we got one on live rock 4 years ago when we first seen it was realy small about the size od a pea and now its about 1 1/2" across it don't move around much comes out moves around for about a day then back to its hole

 

[tekisui]

Originally Posted by BigTankBigFish
http:///forum/post/3149009

found this urchin in my reef today, he must have been in there for a few weeks when i added some live rock from my fowlr.
1. is he reef safe?
2. will it sting me when I try to take him out and put him back in fowlr?

It looks like a rock boring urchin. I got one as a hitchhiker, as well. The worst thing he does is knock over corals that aren't secured. He stays on the underside of ricks most of the time, so I don't mind that he eats the coralline algae off. He does occasionally scrape the top of the rocks, but they get covered over again. I like the diversity. Don't let it poke you, keep track of it. I heard it can give you a nasty infection.

 

[snakeblitz33]

I agree. I really like biodiversity in a saltwater aquarium... just like to keep the pests out. Glad you are getting on top of your research! Good luck!