The Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin (Eucidaris sp) is a marine (saltwater) cidaroid.

The Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin is covered with spines for protection. The spines are thick and straight, with blunt tips, that look like lead pencils. The spines are called tubercles. They radiate around a central point – its beak-like mouth. There are also shorter secondary spines.

Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin

The Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin is native to the Caribbean Sea.

It is a bottom-dwelling cidaroid. It can move around the ocean bed.

It eats algae growing on rocks. Its mouth is like a bird’s beak, and it pecks algae from the rocks.

Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM