Very Unfriendly Looking...Urchin???

[jonboyb]

This crawled out today. Kinda scary looking. Looks painful to touch, and in an unremovable location

 

[Innovator]

Sweet! Can't wait to see what it grows into

 

[jonboyb]

I'm not quite as excited....LOL Just went to watch it to maybe get better pics, but it was already gone. I first thought it was just a molt, but on close inspection it was definantly not. The spines were about 1" long....and looked very sharp. As many times as I had my hands in there I'm glad I didn't "locate" hime sooner.

 

[jonboyb]

I've been researching different urchin species and the only one I find resembling this one is the banded urchin. Hard to see in the pics I posted but the long spines are pretty translucent with rings on them and it has both short and long spines. The banded urchin fits the bill, but little info available. What do you think?


Banded Urchin - Echinothrix calamaris - Tropical Reefs

 

[rob28]

wow...
whatever it is, it looks really cool

 

[Innovator]

Very difficult to say from the pictures considering if the urchin is extremely juvenile you may not be able to tell for sure until it grows out a bit (unless of course it has rapidly grown/morphed since).

 

[jonboyb]

I only get a glimpse of it every once and a while. In fact, the only time I have ever seen it in the open was the pics I posted. It's hard to ID because it's long spines are layed out to each side instead of pointing out radially. If I ever see it out again, it will be removed (if possible) because I just don't trust it. I'll probably throw it in a Mantis tank if I catch it just to see what it does/becomes. DOn't think a Mantis would play with this one