Purple Urchin: More Information
Description: Sea urchins are spheres, up to fist-sized, of richly purple spines. The spines are long enough to take up perhaps a quarter of the overall height and width of the urchin—about ½ to 1½ inches long, depending on the size of the urchin. Sometimes the urchin spines are tidy, arranged in neat rows radiating from the center top and down the sides to the bottom, other times the spines have pivoted about irregularly, giving the urchin a disheveled look. The softer tissues beneath and between the spines is very dark purple—nearly black. Some urchins have rocks or pieces of shells attached. Most purple urchins on the Oregon Coast live in shallow, urchin-shaped pits.
Taxonomy:
| Kingdom | Animalia -- Animal, animals, animaux | ||
| Phylum | Echinodermata Klein, 1734 -- bolacha da praia, échinodermes, echinoderms, equinoderma, equinodermata, estrela do mar, ouriço do mar | ||
| Subphylum | Eleutherozoa Bather, 1900 | ||
| Superclass | Cryptosyringida Smith, 1984 | ||
| Class | Echinoidea Leske, 1778 -- bolacha da praia, châtaignes de mer, clypéastres, equinóide, heart urchins, heart urchins, ouriço do mar, oursins, sand dollars, sand dollars, sea urchins, sea urchins, urchins | ||
| Order | Echinoida Claus, 1876 | ||
| Family | Strongylocentrotidae Gregory, 1900 | ||
| Genus | Strongylocentrotus Brandt, 1835 | ||
| Species | Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Stimpson, 1857) |
Taxonomic information source: ITIS.gov