This is Urchin!

This is Urchin!

Hehehe! We love a good pun! Ok, well maybe learning about our last echinoderm the sea urchin, isn’t so urgent, but it is cool!

SEA FUN FACTS:

• Like their other echinoderm relatives, sea urchins are divided in to equal parts- being 5.
• They have 5 rows of tube feet with suckers on the end that they use to move and then attach to rocks or the ocean floor.
• All urchins have spines, but not all of them are venomous.
• These omnivores eat plankton and algae. In turn they are prey for other animals including otters and sun stars.
• The sea urchin’s mouth is on the bottom of their body and their bum is on the top.
• Urchin is an old word for hedgehog. Named after the spiny mammal, you could technically call them sea hedgehogs!
• Sand dollars are actually a type of urchin!
• Sea urchins also have tiny claws in between their spines. They use these to help protect them and to hold shells and other objects to help them camouflage.

Sea urchins are really cool for an animal that looks just like a colorful pin cushion! These amazing creatures can live up to 30 years and the Red Sea urchin is known to live up to 200 years. Crazy!!!