Sodwana Bay Sea Urchins Sea urchins (/ˈɜːrtʃɪnz/), are typically spiny, globular animals, echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft; 2,700 fathoms).[1] Their tests (hard shells) are round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 cm (1 to 4 in) across. Sea urchins move slowly, crawling with their tube feet, and sometimes pushing themselves with their spines. They feed primarily on algae but also eat slow-moving or sessile animals. Their predators include sea otters, starfish, wolf eels, triggerfish, and humans. Anyone who has swam in or near a reef has definitely seen these prickly black creatures around – the Sea Urchin. Believe it or not these spiny creatures are actually alive – they are actually Sea animals. They fall under the starfish, sea cucumber and sand dollar family… There are a lot of Sea Urchins hanging around Sodwana Bay reefs, so always be aware not to swim into them, they can pack a nasty punch, if felt threatened or you by accidentally touch them. They often hide in reef holes and some will bury themselves in the sand. They are sea grazers of the sea, they eat algae and detritus. If you not careful their spines will sometimes break off in the area that it got stuck in! Although their sting is not deadly, you still need to keep the wounds clean and get any barbs that might have broken off out of your body, the infection if it reaches your blood stream could kill you! Did you know there are more than 700 species of Sea urchins around the world! Sea Urchins can literally be found anywhere in the world from tropical, subtropical to arctic waters, so no matter where you swim you will never be safe from these spiny balls! For the most part Sea Urchins only grow around 3cm – 10cm. That’s really tiny for something that can hurt so bad. Sea Urchins are quite miraculous animals, for one thing who would think such a weird creature could be classified as an animal, if I didn’t know any better I could say they could be part of the reef system, well until you turn it around and find that it actually has a mouth and inside there are organs… They can also move their spines, like a porcupine – when poked by a predator they will redirect their spines in the direction of the threat. Sea Urchins also have regenerative abilities like a the starfish – make sense they are from the same family, sort of – The Sea Urchin will often regenerate it’s Spines if not to badly damaged… For the most part sea urchins are not endangered, but there is a very delicate balance between endangered and over population, they are prey to many sea animals, such as sea otters, humans and starfish to name a few. So if they go extinct some of these predators could die off effecting the circle of life, but if there are to many sea Urchins they could start devastating coral reefs and erode sea weed, that will also be super bad! So next time you go scuba diving or snorkeling just be very aware of these thorny creatures – the Sea Urchin, we haven’t been stung by them, but have heard about people who have, and the picture they paint is not a pretty one… Factual References: Common Knowledge Tree of Life web project South Africa.co.za Wikipedia Wikipedia info@sodwanabayinformation.co.za
