Phil Garner, Southern California Marine Life, USA
Info
Lytechinus pictus (Verrill, 1867)
The colour is greyish or pale straw brown, sometimes with a pinkish flush. The spines are robust, short and blunt.Juvenile urchins sometimes have banded spines.
It feeds on kelp, particularly Macrocystis, Gigartina and Laminaria.
In the California kelp forests, the painted urchin is preyed on by the bat star (Patiria miniata).
Synonymised names:
Lytechinus anamesus H.L. Clark, 1912
Psammechinus pictus Verrill, 1867 (transferred to Lytechinus)
The colour is greyish or pale straw brown, sometimes with a pinkish flush. The spines are robust, short and blunt.Juvenile urchins sometimes have banded spines.
It feeds on kelp, particularly Macrocystis, Gigartina and Laminaria.
In the California kelp forests, the painted urchin is preyed on by the bat star (Patiria miniata).
Synonymised names:
Lytechinus anamesus H.L. Clark, 1912
Psammechinus pictus Verrill, 1867 (transferred to Lytechinus)
