Banded sea urchin

Echinothrix calamaris

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth3–15 m
Water temperature22–30 °C
Best monthsSeptember
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) http://www.colours.dk/, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Echinothrix calamaris, known commonly as the banded sea urchin or double spined urchin among other vernacular names, is a species of sea urchin in the family Diadematidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Echinothrix calamaris”, 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: 219 records
February: 184 records
March: 224 records
April: 302 records
May: 267 records
June: 192 records
July: 288 records
August: 256 records
September: 553 records
October: 296 records
November: 260 records
December: 240 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–15 m · Deepest record: 50 m

0–10 m: 155 records
10–20 m: 407 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 13 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C

22–24 °C: 6 records
24–26 °C: 30 records
26–28 °C: 109 records
28–30 °C: 138 records

Photos

(c) Brocken Inaglory, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Philippe Bourjon, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Sockrosma, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rama Narayanan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Иван Ковтун Ivan Kovtun, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Banded sea urchin, Banded urchin, banded sea urchin, banded urchin, Double-spined sea urchin, Double Spined Urchin

Names in 5 more languages

German: Calamaris-Seeigel
French: Oursin à doubles piquants
Japanese: トックリガンガゼモドキ
Thai: เม่นดาวหนามขาว, เม่นทะเลดำหนามสั้น
Simplified Chinese: 環刺棘海膽

Other scientific names: Astropyga calamaria, Astropyga desorii, Cidaris calamaria, Cidaris calamaris, Cidarites calamaria, Diadema calamare, Diadema calamaria, Diadema calamarium, Diadema desori, Diadema frappieri, Echinothrix aequalis, Echinothrix annellata, Echinothrix aperta, Echinothrix clavata, Echinothrix desori, Echinothrix desorii, Echinothrix scutata, Echinotrix calamaris, Echinus calamaris, Echinus calamarus, Garelia aequalis, Garelia clavata, Savignya frappieri

Similar species

Blue-black urchin
Echinothrix diadema
Blue-spotted Urchin
Astropyga radiata
Savigny's Longspine Sea Urchin
Diadema savignyi
Diadema setosum
Chaetodiadema granulatum
Eremopyga debilis

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).
1,097 open-data records from 1774 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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