''Parechinus angulosus'', the Cape urchin, is a sea urchin in the family
Parechinidae
The Parechinidae are a family of sea urchins in the class Echinoidea.
Characteristics
All camarodonts have imperforate tubercles and compound ambulacral plates. In addition, the characteristics of the parechinids include the interambulacral pl ...
endemic to southern Africa.
Synonyms
*''Cidaris angulosus'' Leske, 1778
*''Cidaris angulosus minor'' Leske, 1778
*''Echinus angulosus minor'' (Leske, 1778)
*''Echinus minimus'' Blainville, 1825
*''Echinus subangulosus'' Lamarck, 1816
*''Parechinus angulosus pallidus'' H.L. Clark
*''Parechinus annulatus'' (Mortensen, 1909)
*''Protocentrotus angulosus'' (Leske, 1778)
*''Protocentrotus annulatus'' Mortensen, 1909
*''Psammechinus subangulosus'' (Lamarck, 1816)
Description
Test round, diameter up to 60 mm, with a dense covering of short sharp spines which do not exceed 20% of test diameter. Test colour usually green, spines purple, but also green, red or off-white.
Distribution
Lüderitz to
Durban, intertidal to about 100 m.
Natural history
Grazes on seaweeds, and population density affects the rate of kelp settlement. Provides shelter for juvenile abalone ''
Haliotis midae
''Haliotis midae'', known commonly as the South African abalone or the perlemoen abalone, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones.
Subspecies
* ''Haliotis midae volcanius'' Patamak ...
'' and is an important influence on
kelp forest ecology. Abundant on flatter areas of rocky reefs in the Cape. Eaten by West coast rock lobster ''
Jasus lalandii
''Jasus lalandii'', the Cape rock lobster or West Coast rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found off the coast of Southern Africa. It is not known whom the specific epithet ''lalandii'' commemorates, although it may the French naturalist ...
''.
References
category:Camarodonta
{{Echinoidea-stub