Inflated egg urchin

Holopneustes inflatus

Other invertebrates
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth5–10 m
Water temperature14–23 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Gary Williams, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Holopneustes inflatus, the pink sea urchin or sea grass sea urchin is a species of sea urchin of the family Temnopleuridae.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 21 records
February: 34 records
March: 46 records
April: 54 records
May: 87 records
June: 48 records
July: 28 records
August: 22 records
September: 25 records
October: 54 records
November: 23 records
December: 16 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–10 m · Deepest record: 146 m

0–10 m: 184 records
10–20 m: 40 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 2 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 14–23 °C

12–14 °C: 100 records
14–16 °C: 198 records
16–18 °C: 7 records
18–20 °C: 11 records
20–22 °C: 41 records
22–24 °C: 7 records

Photos

(c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) bughntr, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Alesha Teitzel, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) tobyyy, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Inflated egg urchin, Variegated sea urchin

Other scientific names: Amblypneustes inflatus

Similar species

Short-spined urchin
Holopneustes porosissimus
Short-spine urchin
Holopneustes purpurascens
Mespilia globulus
green-spined salmacis
Salmacis sphaeroides
Little Pink Urchin
Amblypneustes elevatus
Diamond patterned sea urchin
Amblypneustes formosus

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).
640 open-data records from 1898 to 2019.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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