Echinostrephus aciculatus
Sea urchin | Echinostephus aciculatus
Echinostrephus aciculatus, Lord Howe Is, NSW, Photo: Andrew Green
Echinostrephus aciculatus, North WA, Australia, Photo: Andrew Green
Similar Species
Same Genus
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 (32.4% 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 (28 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Rick S-S