Urchin???????

[BeGiNeR]

I found this little guy on one of my rocks and at first I didn't think he was alive. One morning right before I flipped on the lights I saw him roll across the rock into a hole. He is about the width of the eraser on the end of a pencil. These are the best pictures I could get because he is so small and my camera won't focus in very well.

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#thats deffinitly what it looks like to me!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[BeGiNeR]

I am thinking it is a pencil urchin since the spines are more blunt than needle like. Anyone else have any ideas?

[davejnz]

If it came in on Caribbean/FL/Gulf LR,i've seen them before.Mine is nocturnal and has tiny white dots on its body.I dont like this species as much as the long-spined urchins but its still a good herbivore

[graphixx]

that is a good little find, congrats

[Tom McKenna]

Im still a butt about urchins they eat to much of your coralline algae for me and move stuff around when they get bigger. But good find though

[BeGiNeR]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I guess I will see how things go as he grows. If he turns out to be to much of a nusense then I'll have to give him away. I hope he doesn't though because he is really cool. #ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[davejnz]

IME/IMO Urchins are the best herbivore you can put in a reef tank,especially the long-spined(Diadema sp.) kind.They will eat coralline,but that is a good thing.By stripping the LR bare,it opens up the pore structure of the rock.I have a big long-spined in my 40LPS and he grazes coralline all day.Event so, he cant keep up,coralline grows fast in this tank.

[Reptoreef]

I have a pencil and agree of their benefits... however, I had a long spine and got jabbed far too many times(found a new home) and my pencil is a frag dozer and now lives in the fuge.

[carpenterwrasse]

I killed my urchin when i remodeled my tank and have yet the finances to replace him