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Mespilia Globulus
''Mespilia globulus'', the globular sea urchin, sphere sea urchin, or tuxedo urchin (trade name), is a sea urchin occurring in tropical shallow reef habitats. The specific name refers to a small ball or spherule, describing its overall shape/morphology. Description The species can have a diameter of up to 5 cm. It can be recognized by its radial symmetry and relatively small spines (reaching lengths of up to 2 cm), usually brown, red or dark in color. The body features ten vertical zones that are not covered in spines which are distinct due to their vibrant shades of blue/green and can be described as having a velvety texture. Distribution and habitat They mainly inhabit shallow water reefs, coral rubble, and seagrass bed environments, generally at depths of 0–200 meters. They occur in shallow, tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean as well as the south west coast of the western Pacific and Japan. However, they are not constrained to this area, and can be foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Urchin
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of sea urchins are round and spiny, ranging in diameter from . Sea urchins move slowly, crawling with tube feet, and also propel themselves with their spines. Although algae are the primary diet, sea urchins also eat slow-moving (sessile) animals. Predators that eat sea urchins include a wide variety of fish, starfish, crabs, marine mammals. Sea urchins are also used as food especially in Japan. Adult sea urchins have fivefold symmetry, but their pluteus larvae feature bilateral (mirror) symmetry, indicating that the sea urchin belongs to the Bilateria group of animal phyla, which also comprises the chordates and the arthropods, the annelids and the molluscs, and are found in every ocean and in every climate, from the tropics to the pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coral Community At Norman Reef
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class (biology), class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral reef, reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many cloning, genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. Each polyp excretes an exoskeleton near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a skeleton characteristic of the species which can measure up to several meters in size. Individual colonies grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by Spawn (biology), spawning: polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously overnight, often around a full moon. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
