The purple sea urchin is a keystone species of the Pacific kelp forest ecosystem, capable of both maintaining healthy kelp through grazing and, when populations explode unchecked, creating bare ‘urchin barrens’ devoid of all macroalgae. Echinoderms lack a centralized brain; the sea urchin’s nervous system is a radially distributed nerve ring. Some sea urchin species have been found with telomeres that do not shorten with age, sparking significant interest in the biology of aging.
About the Sea Urchin
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
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💡 Fun Facts
01
Some species of sea urchin appear to be biologically non-aging — they show no increase in mortality rate with age and some individuals are estimated to be over 200 years old.
02
The purple sea urchin's genome contains more than 23,000 genes — comparable to humans — and includes a sophisticated immune system with 222 distinct immune receptor genes.
03
Sea urchins have no eyes but light-sensitive cells all over their body, and new research suggests their entire body surface functions as a compound eye.
04
Their five-toothed jaw apparatus, called Aristotle's lantern, can grind through solid rock to excavate burrows in areas with strong surge.
05
After a sunflower sea star (their main predator) was driven nearly extinct by sea star wasting disease, purple urchin populations on the US West Coast exploded 10,000-fold by 2019.
📍 Where to Find This Animal
Habitat Types:
Rocky Coastal Ocean
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