sea urchin

[jesse alcaraz]

Hey guys what type of urchin is this?
Its black body with brown spines.
I used to have a black spine urchin that what awesome until i gave it away for getting too big and messing up my coral frags. Thought this guy looked cool and its small so thats a plus. I got this pic online but it looks like this. Anything i should worry about? Reefsafe?
Any info would be sweet. Thanks guys.

 

[bvysochin]

Looks like a pin cushion or possibly a rock burrowing urchin. Might be small now but they can get big. From my experience they are reef safe. They will eat algae, corraline, and macro algae.

 

[swiftism]

I have one in my tank, with white spines instead of brown. About the size of a golf ball spines included. Very active has knocked over a few of my rocks. It's not interested any if the coral in my tank. It has, eaten some of the macro in my tank. Spends most of the time on the glass or rocks, have never seen it on the sand bed.

 

[jesse alcaraz]

Well i didnt buy this guy, ive had this tank set up for a good year+ and he just showed up all of a sudden. Maybe since he was small i never saw him and he finally grew to a good size to see or at least comes out now.

So free urchin for me haha. Thanks guys.

 

[swiftism]

Nice, I think I paid $20 for mine.