Red Sea Urchins
- Friendly Fins
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
Among the spines and thorns, the Red Sea has a lot to tell us, among the most bizarre animals that we can encounter underwater, sea urchins are certainly the ones that most arouse my curiosity during the Egyptian nights.
Typically nocturnal animals, it is really rare to see them during the day while they swarm in the night with bright colors and bizarre shapes.
Today, however, let's talk in a practical way about who these sea urchins are and above all how we recognize them:
Ok Friendly Fins, fins on your feet, mask on your face and regulator in your mouth! Down!
Pencil Urchuns
The pencil urchin is extremely beautiful and eye-catching: it has this rounded or red or greyish body and these thick, large and not too numerous spines that look just like red pencils! The size is about 30 cm including the spines!
During the day it hides in the crevices of the coral and at night it pops out to eat its favorite prey, i.e. algae.
Very easy to find Friendly Fins in a respectful stop because it does not like depth and always stays from the surface up to 8-9 m: with the torch pointed at the wall, you will surely always find at least one so you can admire its singular spines!
This urchin can also be seen by those who snorkel!
Urchins diadema
The diadema sea urchin resembles the classic black Mediterranean sea urchin as we usually imagine it but... It has very long and thin spines, which makes it absolutely unmistakable.
It wanders around at night "walking" very quickly on the sandy seabed or on coral, they are often found in groups.
Very easy to spot (if there are any), by illuminating them with a torch you can notice a truly singular detail on the upper part; a sort of bulbous sac that sways attached to the lower end of the body. This strange sac is its anus; in fact all sea urchins have their mouth below and their anus above, but in the diadema sea urchin this structure is truly evident and spectacular!
Its spines are truly merciless, up to 30 cm long they pierce the skin very easily, causing severe pain and break immediately afterwards, remaining inside the skin and causing infections if they are not removed quickly.
The usual Friendly Fins rule always applies! Don't touch anything!
Rousseau Urchins
I found the Rousseau's urchin for the first time in Nosy Be and then in the wreck of the Thistlegorm, obviously inside, in very shaded areas. This urchin is small but very unique with greyish colors and very elegant purple shades. Unlike other urchins it does not have quills all over its body but it has these 5 stripes of quills that start from the upper part and run from top to bottom to the back of the animal.
A very solitary type, it is not always easy to see given its small size but sharpen your eyesight Friendly Fins because it will leave you surprised by its beauty.
Tip: easy to find in ravines and on wrecks at night!
Fire Urchins
The Fire urchin is a sea urchin that has been defined as "it looks like a cake"! It is actually a beautiful ball of about 20 cm in diameter. Its color is a beautiful bright red-purple and on each tip of the numerous and short spines there is a white ball. Its appearance makes it really graceful and elegant, except that it is a truly lethal sea urchin and very poisonous even for us!
These beautiful white balls are actually sacs of a very powerful poison that is injected when the spine pierces the prey.
I have always found it at night both while it was wandering around the coral reef on the wall or on the bottom, and at night inside the wrecks. An enterprising sea urchin capable of moving quickly. It, like all other sea urchins, has light receptors and you will immediately notice that if you shine the torch near it it will tend to move to escape.
In my opinion of a shocking beauty but be careful how you move Friendly Fins!
The sea is wonderful but like every environment it must be respected and you must pay the right attention to its inhabitants, often and willingly the animals with the most garish colors or completely camouflaged hide a secret...
Comments