White Hairy Creature Came from Under the Sand..

Hello,

Hope somebody can help me to identify this small white creature that came from under the sand during a night dive some time ago. It was crawling over the sand and we are looking to it's back as it was moving away from the camera..

Any help is appreciated!

Marco

Its a heart urchin. Sea urchin that burrows through the sediment. Also known as sea potato.

Alex

I don't have my books here, though I know these have many different English names. There are actually many different species, some which are called sand dollars too! You will have probably saw the skeletons of these many times before.

How disappointing! - I was expecting a worm post from your title....

Heart urchins, sea biscuits, irregular urchins are some of the common names for these inflated ovoid species. Sand dollars are flat to slightly inflated. They're detritus eaters, scavengers, and predators. Some stay buried during the day & come out at night, some are always out in the open, while others stay buried as they move about in search of food. Do a google search for Maretia, Metalia, Brissus, Clypeaster, and Dendraster to see images of various irregular urchins.

Sand dollars are flat to slightly inflated. They're detritus eaters, scavengers, and predators. Some stay buried during the day & come out at night, some are always out in the open, while others stay buried as they move about in search of food. Do a google search for Maretia, Metalia, Brissus, Clypeaster, and Dendraster to see images of various irregular urchins.

So is the sand dollar a totally different species, family or what, what does their family tree look like?

Regular urchins (the round ones with 5-sided symmetry), sand dollars (flattened), and irregular urchins (bilateral symmetry) are in different orders. Graham - there's an excellent website on echinoids that will answer your questions better than I can http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/pro...tory/index.html It's also got some really nifty 3D visualizations of urchins.

Thanks for all the help on this ID.

Leslie, sorry for making you disappointed when you opened my threat!

It's amazing how fast these urchins can move on those little spiny feet, and they can bury themselves in about 5 seconds.

btw. Leslie, do you work faster if I post "a creature from under the sand" in title of my threat[sic]?

btw. Leslie, do you work faster if I post "a creature from under the sand" in title of my threat[sic]?

No Brian, I'd still ignore you just as usual.