APHOTOMARINE

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography
and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters
and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.

A-P-H-O-T-O Wildlife Stock Image Library
Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) - Purple sea urchin (Sea urchins)
Scroll down and rollover titles to change screen image or click on title to view image.
Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus
- test 1

Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus
- test close-up 1

Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus
- ambulacral plates 1

Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus
- ambulacral plates 2

Purple sea urchin
Paracentrotus lividus
- spine 1

The test is part of a marine collection and was photographed on 17.08.17.

A very similar species to Psammechinus miliaris, the Green sea urchin but with darker, often reddish-purple unicoloured spines. This species can be told from the Green sea urchin by the number of pore pairs, five or six in the Purple sea urchin and three pairs in the Green sea urchin. It is quite a rare species but may be found around the south-west, Channel Islands and western Scotland.

Paracentrotus lividus Purple sea urchin Images
The main objective of this website is in furthering environmental awareness and education through the medium of photography. To increase awareness and access to the wildlife of the region and help
people find and identify it. Sometimes the difference between species is obvious but many species can only be determined by observing microscopic characteristics that are specific to any one species.