Physical Description
A sea urchin's spherical body is completely covered by sharp spines that can grow up to 8 cm (3.1 in). These spines grow on a hard shell called the "test", which encloses the animal. The oldest ones have been measured to be around 19 cm (7.5 in) in diameter. It can vary in color from red to dark burgundy. Rarely, albino specimens are found. A sea urchin has no visible eyes or legs. It has a mouth located on its underside, which is surrounded by five teeth. During larval development, the body of a sea urchin transitions from radial to bilateral symmetry.
This bilaterally symmetrical larva, called an echinopluteus, subsequently develops a type of pentaradiate symmetry that characterises echinoderms. It crawls very slowly over the sea bottom using its spines as stilts, with the help of its tube feet. Scattered among its spines are rows of tiny tube feet with suckers that help it to move and stick to the sea floor.
Read more about this topic: Red Sea Urchin
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or description:
“The physical world is meaningless tonight
And there is no other.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)