Short Spine Pencil Urchin (Black), Echinometra Sp.

The Short Spine Urchin grows to a maximum diameter around 3 inches and it has hundreds of uniform reddish-orange colored spines. This species is peaceful by nature and reef compatible, it is also fairly easy to keep in the home aquarium as long as you provide plenty of live rock for grazing. The Short-spined Urchin is found on rocky reefs. It is an echinoderm that has tube feet for collecting prey. It also has strong jaws for crushing food. It can actually dig a hole in rock to hide in by day if no hideout is found. It forages near its refuge at night, and then returns to its hole at morning. The Short-spined Urchin will eat hair algae and other forms of algae in an aquarium. Its spines are much smaller and much less sharp than those of the long-spined urchin, Diadema. During the day, the Short Spine Urchin will find a corner or hiding spot to rest. At night, they will roam about the tank searching for food and algae on the substrate,rockwork, and glass. The Short Spine Urchin makes an excellent algae control keeper for an aquarium where a normal clean up crew would be eaten by more aggressive fish such as the larger wrasses and trigger fish.

If there is insufficient algae growing in the aquarium for the Urchin to graze on, the diet should be supplemented with dried seaweed.

Excellent will not harm inverts or corals