urchin???

[BeGiNeR_7]

I think I have some kind of pencil urchin. It is only about the width of an eraser tip on a pencil. I have watched it move across the rock into holes. When the lights are on it normally stays in a hole or just in one place on the rock. These are the best pictures I could get for now. It is so small my camera has a hard time focusing on it.

Does anyone else have an opinion?

 

[Fluff]

Hard to tell in the pic, if the spines are thick and blunt on the end, it's a pencil urchin. If they are sharp pointed, then it's a common black/purple urchin. They grow pretty quick, aren't a real threat to anything except some coralline algae. They grow to about 3-4" in diameter including the spines.

 

[BeGiNeR_7]

The spines are more blunt then spiny. I would say they look more like a chopstick than a needle. If that makes sense. I will have to wait until he grows somemore and post a better pic.

 

[Jermz79]

Looks like a common Black/Purple! I have 3 of them in my 29gal and I need to remove 2 because I can tell their starting to munch my coraline! They are really neat though and move so graciously across the rock!

 

[seaham358]

looks like a short spined.