Stylus sea urchin
| Stylus sea urchin | ||||||||||||
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Stylus sea urchin ( Heterocentrotus mammillatus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Heterocentrotus mammillatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The style sea urchin ( Heterocentrotus mammillatus ) lives in the shallow, current-rich water of the coral reefs in the Red Sea and in the tropical Indo-Pacific from East and South Africa to Hawaii, at depths of up to ten meters.
features
Its eponymous feature are the penile, thick, up to twelve centimeters long primary spines. The primary spines are mostly brownish and may have some white bands at the ends. There are also specimens with reddish spines. The secondary spines are flattened and short and form a mosaic on the endoskeleton that can reach a diameter of eight centimeters. The dark or whitish secondary spines form a clear color contrast to the primary spines.
Way of life
The stylus sea urchin is nocturnal and spends the day in crevices and holes, wedged between coral blocks with the help of its spines . At night he leaves his hiding place to graze on microalgae, calcareous red algae and foraminifera . Stylized sea urchins move with their suction feet on the underside of the body and are good at climbing. To reproduce, the animals gather in large clusters and release their gametes into the water.
The primary spines were previously used to write on slates and are now sold to tourists individually or as part of a mobile .
literature
- Harry Erhardt, Horst Moosleitner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas. Volume 3, Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-103-8 .
- Svein A. Fossa, Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium. Volume 6, Schmettkamp Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-928819-18-6 .
Web links
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System Heterocentrotus mammillatus (Linnaeus, 1758)