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 › Abécédaire › Violet sea urchin
Mediterranean species :

Violet sea urchin

A pretty sea urchin with white-tipped spines
Did you know ?
Some of them have completely white spines. This is a genetic variation and not a disease.

The violet sea urchin has a distinctively round shape and short, blunt spines. At most, the test measures about 10cm and the spines 3cm. It is usually violet with white tips on the spines. It is a grazing herbivore that lives in Posidonia seagrass and on rocky bottoms down to 100m below the surface. Violet sea urchins are found all over the Mediterranean except in the Black Sea, and in the Atlantic from Gibraltar to Senegal.

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Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Echinoidea
Order: Camarodonta 
Family: Toxopneustidae
Scientific name: Sphaerechinus granularis

French: Oursin violet
Spanish: Erizo violado
Italian: Riccio granulare
German: Dunkelvioletter Seeigel

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Institut océanographique Paul Ricard
Île des Embiez - 83140 Six-Fours-les-Plages
Tél. +33 (0)4 94 34 02 49
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