Rock-boring urchin

Echinometra mathaei

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth2–14 m
Water temperature21–30 °C
Best monthsJuly, September, and October
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Echinometra mathaei, the burrowing urchin, is a species of sea urchin in the family Echinometridae. It occurs in shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific region. The type locality is Mauritius.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Echinometra mathaei”, 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: 530 records
February: 477 records
March: 649 records
April: 668 records
May: 724 records
June: 704 records
July: 806 records
August: 623 records
September: 1,115 records
October: 770 records
November: 451 records
December: 543 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–14 m · Deepest record: 171 m

0–10 m: 801 records
10–20 m: 666 records
20–30 m: 6 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 21–30 °C

20–22 °C: 16 records
22–24 °C: 26 records
24–26 °C: 100 records
26–28 °C: 24 records
28–30 °C: 44 records

Photos

(c) Gabriel, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Steve Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Rock-boring urchin, Burrowing Urchin, Indo-Pacific Rock-boring Urchin, Oval Urchin, rock-boring urchin

Names in 6 more languages

German: Matheus' Seeigel
French: Oursin de roche, Oursin perforant
Japanese: Hon-nagauni, ナガウニ
Korean: 만두성게
Thai: เม่นหนามเขียว
Simplified Chinese: 梅氏長海膽

Other scientific names: Echinometra brunea, Echinometra heteropora, Echinometra megastoma, Echinometra microtuberculata, Echinometra picta, Echinus mathaei, Ellipsechinus decaryi, Ellipsechinus matheyi, Ellipsechinus pictus

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).
3,232 open-data records from 1825 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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