Biodiversity & Conservation

A pea urchin - Echinocyamus pusillus

Echinocyamus pusillus

Image www.seasurvey.co.uk - Echinocyamus pusillus, a tiny sea urchin. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Echinocyamus pusillus 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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Echinocyamus pusillus is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Echinodermata Starfish, brittlestars, sea urchins & sea cucumbers
Class Echinoidea Sea urchins, heart urchins and sand dollars
Authority (O F Müller, 1776)
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Found off all British and Irish coasts.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found buried in coarse sand or gravel from extreme low water to 1250 m. Echinocyamus pusillus feeds on detritus, foraminferans and algae.
Text page icon Description The pea urchin reaches 1 cm in diamter and is normally whitish brown or yellow but will turn green when damaged or preserved. Unlike many other urchin species the mouth and anus are on the underside and the ambulacral area and tube feet are confined to the upper surface in a petal shaped pattern. The flattened oval body is covered in short spines.
Identifying features
  • Body oval, flattened with short spines.
  • Anus on underside, behind the mouth.
  • Ambulacral plates on upperside.
  • Each ambulcral plate with six to nine pairs of tube feet.
  • Aristotle's lantern with well developed teeth.
Additional information icon Additional information No text entered

This review can be cited as follows:

Andrew Hosie 2009. Echinocyamus pusillus. A pea urchin. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 23/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=3233>