ophiura got me scared...mystery urchin

[renogaw]

i know its blurry, but that's cause my lights are off.
i'll try to get a clearer shot in the morning, unless this guy can get id'ed before then.

 

[happyhourh]

Looks like the mysterious "black widow" urchin. I'm sure if you flipped it over, it would have a red mouth but once it determined you were even thinking of flipping it over, it would shoot it's poison spines thru the glass and kill you. You probably shouldn't even read this post. Be aware!

 

[sepulatian]

Well now I want to know what it is!

 

[warlock_king]

looks like a shortspine urchin to me. sometimes Ive seen them reffered to as rock-boring urchins. I have one that looks just like it and have had it for close to two years now.

 

[rldavisou]

It looks like my urchin that I've had for about 8 months now. Mine's called a Purple Urchin. Very cool. Mine chows down on any algae or detritus it comes across. It mainly stays behind the rocks until lights out.

 

[ophiura]

I suspect it is an Echinometra - harmless (a "rock boring urchin" and common hitch hiker...don't know if you got it that way).
Several species, Echinometra lacunter is a frequent one.
Species of concern would be in the genus Toxopneustes, or Asthenosoma (a very pretty urchin and it wouldn't surprise me to see it in the hobby some day).
The long spined urchin Diadema is a known issue but no where near as problematic as these would be. When I hear someone describe a species that has short spines (as in the original thread) and they are told it is highly venemous...I panic a bit.
In this case it was probably (though I don't know for sure) something not venemous at all and just a common urchin, with apparently a misconception on the part of the LFS (no!!!). It is always wise to be careful handling urchins, for their sake and ours...but many are quite harmless.

 

[renogaw]

yes, i got this guy as a hitchiker, along with about 14 others i traded off...so i'm very glad it is most likely not venomous

 

[ophiura]

I believe the two genera I mentioned are associated with seagrasses more than rocks, so would not be hitch hikers. But some species of Asthenosoma are unbelievably pretty - almost psychadelic! So someday, someone....