Echinothurioida
Red sea urchins fire ( Asthenosoma marisrubri )
The leather sea urchin ( Echinothuriidae ), often also called fire urchins because of toxic, burning spikes, are a family of sea urchins ( Echinoidea ), which occur in tropical seas on gravel or sandy soil and on dead reef rock to depths of 285 meters.
Features
Leather urchins have a housing, the calcareous plates are only loosely connected to each other, which is therefore flexible and allows the animals to hide in narrow gaps. They often have a striking red / white color. Their spines are short, covered by a thin skin and inflated spherical below the tip. This is surrounded by muscles spheres contain a poison, its composition is not known so far. Even slight pressure on the spines means that the skin is torn and the venom is injected. Divers who are stung by fire urchins, feel a strong pain, but the decreases abruptly after 15 to 20 minutes. The injection sites are barely visible. Stings of fire urchins can result in nausea, shock or psychosis.
The longer spines around the bottom of the sea urchin are not toxic.
Way of life
Leather Sea urchins are mostly nocturnal and feed on algae and sessile invertebrates. They spend the day in crevices or hidden under overhanging corals. Leather urchins often serve as hosts for smaller animals, such as shrimp partners. The smaller animals are protected by the spines. Whether the sea urchins have a benefit of this is unknown.
Genera and species
The genera and species of the family Echinothuriidae
- Genus Araeosoma Mortensen, 1903 Araeosoma fenestratum (Thomson, 1872)
- Araeosoma violaceum Mortensen, 1903
- Araeosoma belli Mortensen, 1903
- Araeosoma parviungulatum Mortensen, 1934
- Araeosoma eurypatum Agassiz & Clark, 1909
- Araeosoma leptaleum Agassiz & Clark, 1909
- Araeosoma splendens Mortensen, 1934
- Araeosoma owstoni Mortensen, 1904
- Araeosoma coriaceum ( Agassiz, 1879)
- Araeosoma tesselatum ( Agassiz, 1879)
- Araeosoma paucispinum Clark, 1924
- Araeosoma thetidis (H. L. Clark, 1909)
- Hygrosoma petersii ( Agassiz, 1880)
- Hygrosoma hoplacantha ( Wyville Thomson, 1877)
- Hygrosoma luculentum ( Agassiz, 1879)
- Sperosoma antillense Mortensen, 1934
- Sperosoma biseriatum Doederlein, 1901
- Sperosoma crassispinum Mortensen, 1934
- Sperosoma durum Doderlein, 1905
- Sperosoma giganteum A. Agassiz and HL Clark, 1907
- Sperosoma obscurum Agassiz & Clark, 1907
- Sperosoma quincunciale deMeijere, 1904
- Sperosoma tristichum Mortensen, 1934
- Tromikosoma koehleri Mortensen, 1903
- Tromikosoma uranus ( Wyville Thomson, 1877)
- Tromikosoma tenue ( Agassiz, 1879)
- Tromikosoma hispidum ( Agassiz )
- Echinothuria floris Woodward, 1863
- † Retzneiosoma jaseneki Kroh, 2005
- Hapalosoma pellucidum ( Agassiz, 1879)
- Hapalosoma gemmiferum Mortensen, 1934
- Red sea urchins fire ( Asthenosoma marisrubri ) Weinberg & de Ridder. 1998
- Asthenosoma varium Grube, 1868
- Asthenosoma dilatatum Mortensen, 1934
- Asthenosoma ijimai Yoshiwara, 1897
- Calveriosoma hystrix (Thomson, 1872)
- Calveriosoma gracile ( Agassiz, 1881)