#forreal though don't go picking up random shit from tidepools

[basuralindo]

🌻!!! :D

So! Back home, there were three really cool types of sea urchin that you could find in tide pools and pick up (not actually recommended, they can still stab you and it's probably not good for them ecologically. I did a lot of unrecommended shit as a kid) (there are more than three species there, but I didn't fuck with the others), aaand yeah I went and looked up the exact names so you can look into them more if you want!

Echinometra mathaei - Rock Boring Urchin

These guys come in either green or pink, I'm not kidding, they're little easter egg urchins and were my absolute favorites. They're a little bigger than golf balls and are still spiny, but nonvenomous and not super sharp. They dig out holes in the lava rock and tuck themselves away and it's really cute

Tripneustes gratilla - Collector Urchin

These ones are just a tiny bit bigger than rock boring urchins, and look like pom-poms! They're black/purplish and have really fine spines that are longer in strips down the sides, and really short in wider strips in between. In between the spines are thousands of tiny sucker tentacles that cling to your hand when you hold them, and are also used to pick up rocks and shells, and you can find them just kinda holding onto shit on the reef. Super cute and fluffy looking, pretty sure these are the ones that got famous for wearing tiny hats

Colobocentrotus atratus - Shingle Urchin

These ones don't look much like urchins at all at first glance, they basically have scaly armor plating instead of spines, with a skirt of longer paddle shaped spines along the edges. So they're little purple/black scaly domes with paddley feet and tiny suction cups on the bottom that cling really hard to your hands. Since they're smooth, little gremlin children could actually pet these ones!