#shorts #marinebiology #kpassionate
Sea urchins are echinoderms. Which are a phylum of marine animals usually recognizable by their five-pointed radial symmetry. This five-pointed symmetry is easily visible in sand dollars and sea stars. Like their relatives, sea urchins also have a hard outer body that is made up of fused plates. Every other section has holes through which the sea urchin can extend its tubed feet that are controlled by a water system. Sea urchins typically use their feet to hang on to the bottom while feeding, but they can also walk on their feet, their spines, or even their teeth!

Sea urchins are voracious eaters. In fact, they are the dominant herbivore in their environment. They use these five pointed jaws to chew through the holdfasts at the kelp base. The rest of the stalk then rises to the ocean surface and washes ashore. Left unchecked, these prickly echinoderms decimate the kelp forests. Turning the once vibrant ecosystems into underwater wastelands known as urchin barrens. Some of these urchin barrens stretch for thousands of kilometers.

Now, one might think that these urchin barrens would be unsustainable for the sea urchin. That if they ate all the kelp, they would quickly run out of food, and die off. But that’s not the case. When a sea urchin runs out of kelp to eat it becomes dormant. These dormant urchins have been described by researchers as “sea urchin zombies” because they can survive this way for over 50 years.

It’s estimated that 95 percent of the kelp forests of the north pacific have been lost to these sea urchins. And many scientists believe the only way to bring back the kelp forests… is to bring back sea otters.

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