Echinostrephus aciculatus

About this species

Echinostrephus aciculatus is a species of sea urchin belonging to the family Echinometridae first documented by Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz in 1863.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Echinostrephus aciculatus”, 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: 64 records
February: 128 records
March: 53 records
April: 51 records
May: 240 records
June: 295 records
July: 187 records
August: 193 records
September: 1,441 records
October: 481 records
November: 49 records
December: 44 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–16 m · Deepest record: 171 m

0–10 m: 650 records
10–20 m: 2,133 records
20–30 m: 31 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C

20–22 °C: 10 records
22–24 °C: 68 records
24–26 °C: 268 records
26–28 °C: 30 records
28–30 °C: 537 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Julien Renoult, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Micha Baum, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: タワシウニ

Other scientific names: Echinostrephus aciculatum, Echinostrephus formosus, Echinostrephus moralis

Similar species

Echinostrephus molaris
Rock-boring urchin
Echinometra mathaei
Oblong Sea Urchin
Echinometra oblonga
Slate pencil urchin
Heterocentrotus mamillatus

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).
2,909 open-data records from 1902 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.