Echinostrephus aciculatus

Sea urchin | Echinostephus aciculatus
Echinostrephus aciculatus
Echinostrephus aciculatus, Lord Howe Is, NSW, Photo: Andrew Green
Echinostrephus aciculatus
Echinostrephus aciculatus, North WA, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
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Echinostrephus aciculatus
Echinostrephus aciculatus

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

A small urchin with very fine spines that lives in holes in the reef, usually in aggregations amongst sand-covered, flatter parts of reef. It is largely impossible to distinguish from E. molaris, and is likely confused with that species often. The information and occurrence records on this page should generally be used to cover both of these species.


Information

Max Size: 2 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 19.1-30.7°C

Depth: 1 - 30 m

Habitat Generalization Index: N/A

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Common (35.6% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Many (29 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.