Latest Sea urchin Stories

Many animals have eyes that are incredibly complex "“ others manage without. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have shown that sea urchins see with their entire body despite having no eyes at all. The study has been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).Most animals react to light and have developed a very sophisticated way of seeing complex images so that they can function in their surroundings. Good examples include insects'...

Janies applies sequencing, supercomputing to correct erroneous classificationA team of scientists has combined embryological observations, genetic sequencing, and supercomputing to determine that a group of small disk-shaped animals that were once thought to represent a new class of animals are actually starfish that have lost the large star-shaped, adult body from their life cycle. In a paper for the journal Systematic Biology, Daniel Janies, Ph.D., a computational biologist in the...

Estuaries are highly appropriate systems for evaluating contamination. They are areas of accumulation of sediments and, effectively, numerous contaminants are found associated with these sedimentary particles. For a comprehensive evaluation, it is important to undertake studies on the effects of the contaminants in the environment; the toxicity trials enabling the quantification of such effects. These trials involve exposing organisms to sediments suspected of being contaminated, in order to...

Wildlife Conservation Society confirms sea urchins destroy reef building algae in overfished sites on Kenya's coastAn 18-year study of Kenya's coral reefs by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of California at Santa Cruz has found that overfished reef systems have more sea urchins"”organisms that in turn eat coral algae that build tropical reef systems.By contrast, reef systems closed to fishing have fewer sea urchins"”the result of predatory fish keeping urchins under...

To survive in a tumultuous environment, sea urchins literally eat through stone, using their teeth to carve out nooks where the spiny creatures hide from predators and protect themselves from the crashing surf on the rocky shores and tide pools where they live.The rock-boring behavior is astonishing, scientists agree, but what is truly remarkable is that, despite constant grinding and scraping on stone, urchin teeth never, ever get dull. The secret of their ever-sharp qualities has puzzled...

Nature abounds with examples of evolutionary arms races. Certain marine snails, for example, evolved thick shells and spines to avoid be eaten, but crabs and fish foiled the snails by developing shell-crushing claws and jaws.Common as such interactions may be, it's often difficult to trace their origins back in evolutionary time.Now, a study by University of Michigan paleontologist Tomasz Baumiller and colleagues finds that sea urchins have been preying on marine animals known as crinoids for...

Some of the most common minerals in biology, including those in bones and shells, have a mysterious structure: Their crystals are positioned in the same orientation, making them behave as one giant crystal, even though they do not look like a faceted crystal.It's as if grains of salt were spilled on a rug, yet instead of landing randomly, all wound up with exactly the same angle and rotation.In a new study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Pupa Gilbert, a professor of physics...

German scientists have cataloged the sea urchin axial complex, an internal structure with undetermined function. The researchers at the Charite University of Medicine in Berlin said the research shows within that group of marine invertebrates there exists a structural evolutionary interdependence of various internal organs. The finding, the scientists said, demonstrates the approach of combining all structural data available on a given organ in combination with a broad taxonomic coverage can...

Sea urchins dig themselves hiding holes in the limestone of the ocean floor using teeth that don't go blunt. Weizmann Institute scientists have now revealed their secrets, which might give engineers insights into creating ever-sharp tools or mechanical parts.The urchins dig holes to fit their globular bodies using their five teeth, which, like those of rodents, are ground down at the tip but continue to grow on the other end throughout the animals' lives. The amazing part, however, is that...

Eagles shift their diet from aquatic marine animals to birdsSea otters are known as a keystone species, filling such an important niche in ocean communities that without them, entire ecosystems can collapse. Scientists are finding, however, that sea otters can have even farther-reaching effects that extend to terrestrial communities and alter the behavior of another top predator: the bald eagle.In nearshore marine communities, towering kelp can reach heights of 250 feet and function much like...