Mespilia globulus

About this species

Mespilia globulus, the globular sea urchin, sphere sea urchin, or tuxedo urchin, is a sea urchin occurring in tropical shallow reef habitats. The specific name refers to a small ball or spherule, describing its overall shape/morphology. It is the only species in the genus Mespilia.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mespilia”, 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: 23 records
February: 26 records
March: 32 records
April: 67 records
May: 52 records
June: 43 records
July: 57 records
August: 23 records
September: 40 records
October: 46 records
November: 30 records
December: 28 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–50 m · Deepest record: 151 m

0–10 m: 42 records
10–20 m: 15 records
20–30 m: 8 records
30–40 m: 6 records
40–50 m: 5 records
50–60 m: 11 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 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 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 3 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 43 records
24–26 °C: 31 records
26–28 °C: 14 records
28–30 °C: 89 records

Photos

(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Micha Baum, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Shelomi Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) luluchouette, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: コシダカウニ

Other scientific names: Cidaris granulata, Echinus alternatus, Echinus atternatus, Echinus globulus, Echinus punctiferus, Mespilia globula, Mespilia levituberculatus, Mespilia microtuberculata, Mespilia whitei, Mespilia whitmaei, Salmacopsis pulchellimus

Similar species

green-spined salmacis
Salmacis sphaeroides
Little Pink Urchin
Amblypneustes elevatus
Diamond patterned sea urchin
Amblypneustes formosus
Grand sea urchin
Amblypneustes grandis
Amblypneustes leucoglobus
Ovoid sea urchin
Amblypneustes ovum

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).
504 open-data records from 1758 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.