Biodiversity & Conservation

Sea potato - Echinocardium cordatum - General information

Echinocardium cordatum

Image Keith Hiscock - Echinocardium cordatum dug up from coarse sediment. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Echinocardium cordatum recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Echinocardium cordatum is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Key Icon Researched by: Jacqueline Hill Text page icon Refereed by: Prof. David Nichols

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy

Phylum Echinodermata Starfish, brittlestars, sea urchins & sea cucumbers
Class Echinoidea Sea urchins, heart urchins and sand dollars
Map icon Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland Echinocardium cordatum is a common infaunal species found on sheltered sandy beaches, on all coasts of Britain and Ireland.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Echinocardium cordatum lives in a permanent burrow buried about 8 cm deep (to 15 cm) in sandy sediments. The species is found from the intertidal to the subtidal and offshore to about 200 m.
Text page icon Description A heart shaped urchin covered in a dense felt of yellow spines, mostly directed backwards. Yellow-brown in colour and usually 6 cm in length although can grow up to 9 cm long.

This review can be cited as follows:

Jacqueline Hill 2008. Echinocardium cordatum. Sea potato. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2012]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=3228>