Stomopneustes variolaris, the black sea urchin or long-spined sea urchin, is a species of sea urchin, the only one in its genus Stomopneustes and only species still alive in its family Stomopneustidae. It is found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific, with a patchy distribution.
It is a rather big and strong regular sea urchin. The spines are robust and sharp, black with sometimes a blue-greenish tinge (depending on the light). They can be recognized thanks to the 5 grey sutures on the upper face, exhibiting distinctive zig-zag pattern. The oral face is clearer. The juveniles are clearer too (they can be black but also pale brown), and often show strikingly asymmetrical spines, due to their habit to use them for digging hiding holes in soft rocks.[2]
Stomopneustes variolaris burrowing in Réunion island
They can be confused with the Diadematidae sea urchins which sho longer and more slender spines, with an anal papilla, or with Echinometra mathaei, which also digs holes but is smaller, with shorter spines and never truly black.
Habitat and distributionedit
This species shows a remarkably patchy distribution though it can be pretty abundant where they are found. They can be encountered from the east African coast to the Philippines, on rock and damaged reefs, most often in shallow waters but never too close to wave action.[1] They are particularly abundant in Sri Lanka.
stomopneustes, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, . This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Stomopneustes news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message Some of this article s listed sources may not be reliable Please help improve this article by looking for better more reliable sources Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed December 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Stomopneustes variolaris the black sea urchin or long spined sea urchin is a species of sea urchin the only one in its genus Stomopneustes and only species still alive in its family Stomopneustidae It is found throughout the tropical Indo Pacific with a patchy distribution Long spined sea urchinStomopneustes variolarisScientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum EchinodermataClass EchinoideaOrder StomopneustoidaFamily StomopneustidaeGenus StomopneustesL Agassiz 1841Species S variolarisBinomial nameStomopneustes variolaris Lamarck 1816 1 Contents 1 Description 2 Habitat and distribution 3 See also 4 ReferencesDescription edit nbsp S variolaris in Sri Lanka It is a rather big and strong regular sea urchin The spines are robust and sharp black with sometimes a blue greenish tinge depending on the light They can be recognized thanks to the 5 grey sutures on the upper face exhibiting distinctive zig zag pattern The oral face is clearer The juveniles are clearer too they can be black but also pale brown and often show strikingly asymmetrical spines due to their habit to use them for digging hiding holes in soft rocks 2 nbsp The five zig zag sutures are visible nbsp Stomopneustes variolaris in Reunion island along with some Echinometra mathaei nbsp idem nbsp Stomopneustes variolaris burrowing in Reunion islandThey can be confused with the Diadematidae sea urchins which sho longer and more slender spines with an anal papilla or with Echinometra mathaei which also digs holes but is smaller with shorter spines and never truly black Habitat and distribution editThis species shows a remarkably patchy distribution though it can be pretty abundant where they are found They can be encountered from the east African coast to the Philippines on rock and damaged reefs most often in shallow waters but never too close to wave action 1 They are particularly abundant in Sri Lanka See also edit Stomopneustes Echinoid Directory References edit a b WoRMS taxon details Stomopneustes variolaris Lamarck 1816 World Register of Marine Species Retrieved 24 January 2015 Stomopneustes variolaris shellytutupoho wordpress com nbsp This article about a sea urchin is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stomopneustes amp oldid 1203984837, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
