Reef Urchin (Echinometra viridis)

Description

One Reef Urchin, hand-collected and quarantined right here in Key West. Photographed under blue spectrum reef lighting, this specimen shows the classic olive-bronze spines with crisp white rings at the base and a deep maroon test underneath — a small, tidy urchin that does real work in a mixed reef.

About the Reef Urchin (Echinometra viridis)

The Reef Urchin is a Caribbean and Florida Keys native, and one of the best-behaved urchins you can put in a reef tank. It stays compact, rarely exceeding a few inches across the test, and its spines are short and slender rather than the long, brittle needles of Diadema. By day it wedges itself into a crevice or under a ledge; at night it comes out and works methodically over rock, stripping film algae, hair algae, and detritus. Locally collected stock is already acclimated to our water and ships as a fully established grazer.

Care Guide

An easy, hardy cleanup crew member that rewards a mature tank with steady, consistent algae control.

• Lighting: Not light-dependent; any standard reef lighting is fine. Provide shaded crevices for daytime cover.
• Flow: Low to moderate — needs open rock surfaces it can grip and graze.
• Placement: Rockwork and sandbed; it will relocate itself nightly.
• Feeding/Nutrients: Grazes film and hair algae plus detritus; supplement with dried seaweed in clean, low-algae systems so it does not go hungry.
• Aggression/Reef Safe: Reef safe with caution — peaceful toward fish and corals, but it will scrape coralline and can dislodge unsecured frags. Glue frag plugs down.
• Water Parameters: Stable reef parameters required — Temp 76-78°F, pH 8.1-8.4, Salinity 1.024-1.026. Sensitive to rapid parameter swings and copper-based medications. Acclimate slowly by drip.

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