Wildlife
Sea urchins are a class of marine animals that live on the seabed or burrow into the sand. Those that live on rocky seabeds are spherical and have prominent, protective spines. Those that live on, or burrowed into, soft sand are heart-shaped or flattened, like the sand dollar, and have short spines that make them look furry.
The Sea urchins can be found in a number of locations including: Great Barrier Reef. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 centimetres (1.2 to 3.9 in) across. Common colors include black and dull shades of green, olive, brown, purple, and red. They move slowly, feeding mostly on algae. Sea otters, wolf eels, triggerfish, and other predators feed on them. Their "roe" (actually the gonads) is a delicacy in many cuisines.
The name "urchin" is an old name for the round spiny hedgehogs that sea urchins resemble.
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