Red Sea Urchin
Mesocentrotus franciscanus · Echinoderm
The largest urchin of the Pacific Northwest, up to 19 cm across with spines up to 8 cm, living on rocky reefs from Baja California to the Gulf of Alaska and northern Japan, usually around 30 m deep near kelp beds. It scrapes up giant and bull kelp, and in great numbers it can turn a kelp forest into bare rock; sea otters are its chief check. Some live a hundred years or more. Its roe (uni) is a delicacy, eaten as sashimi in Japan; handled roughly, its spines wound divers and fishers.
- Danger
- Dangerous if cornered
- How it is met
- In colonies, day and night
- Size
- Small
- In winter
- Active in winter
Where it lives
Feeds on
Bull Kelp, Giant Kelp
Gives
Sources
- Emily Bartholomew, Elena Hursky, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus (red sea urchin). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2014.
- Mesocentrotus franciscanus. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2026.
- Mesocentrotus franciscanus. Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre, 2026.
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