Purple heart urchin
Entire individual on sea bed.
Image width ca 25 cm.
Image: Bernard Picton / Joint Nature Conservation Committee
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Spatangus purpureus Purple heart urchin |
Entire individual on sea bed. Image width ca 25 cm. Image: Bernard Picton / Joint Nature Conservation Committee |
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Phylum | Echinodermata |
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Class | Echinoidea |
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Habitat Information |
| Occurs buried just below the surface of coarse sand or gravel, including maerl but rarely mud, in wave sheltered areas in the infralittoral fringe, down to about 900 m. |
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Species description |
| A large, spectacular, violet coloured heart urchin that grows up to 12 cm long. Some of the long upper spines are white. The bivalve mollusc Montacuta substriata is often found attached to spines. |
| PMF archive information |
| Unavailable |
| Species name is listed in the PMF at the following locations: |
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>Eddystone (inner) Channel Grounds Eddystone (outer) Channel Grounds Looe-Eddystone Grounds Mewstone shell gravel/Mewstone Ledges Queens grounds and New Grounds Rame-Eddystone or Middle Grounds |