Sea Urchin

Creator

Preview

Photo Credit

Meredith C. Swartwout, Ph.D. Candidate, Biological Sciences

Object Type

Dried Mount Oceanic Specimen

Date

Spring 2021

Description

This exquisite sea urchin forms part of the collection at the University of Arkansas Museum. While alive, sea urchins have spiky arms that protect them from predators, but when they die, usually only their test (a hard shell, as above) is preserved. Sea urchins are in the same group as sea stars and share similar symmetry. Like the sea stars, they use tubular feet on their underside to move quickly across the ocean floor.

Object Housed

University of Arkansas Museum

Object Accession Number

2005-3-135