Black Sea Urchin

Black sea urchins are dark, spined grazers that spend the day tucked into a shaded crevice and come out over the rock at night. This listing is catalogued as Arbacia lixula; ask our staff to confirm the exact species in stock, since several dark urchins reach the trade under the same common name. They all earn their keep the same way, by scraping film and turf algae off hard surfaces.

Aquarium care

• Handle with care and use gloves. Urchin spines are sharp, break off in the skin, and in some species carry venom.
• Drip acclimate slowly and keep salinity, temperature and pH stable. Urchins fail quickly in swinging water.
• Never expose one to copper-based medication.
• It grazes algae well, but it also bulldozes: loose frags, magnets, probes and thin coralline patches all get pushed or scraped.
• Once the tank is grazed clean, supplement with dried marine algae so it does not starve.
• Glue down or elevate anything you would rather it left alone.

A useful clean-up animal for an established marine tank with secured aquascaping and peaceful fish. Trigger fish, large wrasses and puffers attack urchins, so keep those combinations out of the plan.

Stock rotates. Local pickup at our Lethbridge store, with more livestock under saltwater fish.