Heart-urchin

Echinocardium cordatum

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–43 m
Water temperature10–22 °C
Best monthsMarch, April, and May
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Javier · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Echinocardium cordatum, also known as the common heart urchin or the sea potato, is a sea urchin in the family Loveniidae. It is found in subtidal regions in temperate seas throughout the world. It lives buried in the sandy sea floor.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Echinocardium cordatum”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 598 records
February: 713 records
March: 3,171 records
April: 3,690 records
May: 3,706 records
June: 1,952 records
July: 1,530 records
August: 2,277 records
September: 1,956 records
October: 1,592 records
November: 865 records
December: 549 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–43 m · Deepest record: 768 m

0–10 m: 5,168 records
10–20 m: 3,676 records
20–30 m: 2,502 records
30–40 m: 788 records
40–50 m: 529 records
50–60 m: 183 records
60–70 m: 163 records
70–80 m: 278 records
80–90 m: 76 records
90–100 m: 59 records
100–110 m: 74 records
110+ m: 208 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 10–22 °C

8–10 °C: 6 records
10–12 °C: 537 records
12–14 °C: 146 records
14–16 °C: 31 records
16–18 °C: 5 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 1 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Kieran Roy Powell, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Javier, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) catchwords, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Heart-urchin, Sea potato, Sea-potato, heart-urchin, sea-potato, Sea Potato

Names in 5 more languages

German: kleiner Herzigel, Kleiner Herzigel
Spanish: erizo corazón
French: oursin-coeur, oursin de sable
Japanese: Okame-bunbuku, オカメブンブク
Korean: 모래무치염통성게

Other scientific names: Amphidetus cordatus, Amphidetus kurtzii, Amphidetus kürtzii, Amphidetus novae zealandiae, Amphidetus novæ zelandiæ, Amphidetus novaezelandiae, Amphidetus zealandicus, Amphidotus cordatus, Echinocardium australe, Echinocardium caudatum, Echinocardium cordatus, Echinocardium kurtzii, Echinocardium sebae, Echinocardium stimpsonii, Echinocardium zealandicum, Echinus cordatum, Echinus cordatus, Spatangus arcuarius, Spatangus cordatus

Similar species

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
37,897 open-data records from 1905 to 2026.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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