[HN Gopher] A sea urchin: they are method actors performing The ...
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A sea urchin: they are method actors performing The Waste Land
Author : gardenfelder
Score : 21 points
Date : 2023-09-04 17:40 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| [deleted]
| cheaprentalyeti wrote:
| Among the predators of sea urchins are crabs.
|
| "I should have been a pair of ragged claws..."
| daveslash wrote:
| Sea Urchins are fascinating.
|
| The Purple Urchins have been destroying the kelp in California
| lately, and as this article stated, they can live for a long time
| and go into a zombie like state. They also dig holes in the rock
| with their teeth that they live in. [0][1]. Some urchins (not
| most) are edible, but the ones usually eaten in restaurants are
| the Red Urchins, because they're typically larger. Personally, I
| find purple urchins are tastier and easier to find, but much
| harder to get uni out of due to their size (and zombie state).
| Green Urchins went through a fishing boom in the 1990s, but I
| don't know how common they're fished for food these days. I know
| it happens, but Red are the common ones. Edit: Data on Green Sea
| Urchin landings. [5]
|
| But urchins are also a huge taxa, with tons of species - Subclass
| Euechinoidea [3]. I found a really interesting urchin last month
| while digging in the sand underneath a sand dollar bed. I dug it
| up and it literally ran/swam away! [4]
|
| For the life of me, I can't figure out how these things are
| alive. I crack them open, and it looks like it's just gonads
| (uni) and brown slime. They mystify me as much as jellyfish!
|
| As Surfline puts it, _" The Kelp Needs Help"_ [2]
|
| [0] https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/139958858 [1]
| https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161771-sea-urchins-can...
| [2] https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/kelp-needs-help/159452 [3]
| https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/475988-Euechinoidea [4]
| https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178269901 [5]
| https://www.maine.gov/dmr/sites/maine.gov.dmr/files/inline-f...
| civilitty wrote:
| What are your favorite places in San Diego to look around for
| sea life like urchins?
|
| Do you eat them out of mission bay?
| daveslash wrote:
| To look for life _like_ urchins? Or urchins specifically to
| eat?
|
| Full Disclosure: I am not an expert on inter-tidal foraging.
| Here are my thoughts, but I do not know if they are correct.
| I have eaten purple urchins out of the Mission Bay channel,
| but I don't recommend it because they're just so small and,
| frankly, just not worth the effort. But I don't have any
| health concerns. I'm very reluctant to eat any bi-valve
| shellfish that I harvest myself for concerns over Paralytic
| Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). I'm sure it can be done safely,
| but I am not knowledgeable enough to have self-confidence. I
| don't like the idea of eating filter-feeders (i.e. oysters)
| out of Mission Bay because of what they might be
| accumulating. Eating a scallop out of Mission Bay seems okay
| because the only part you eat is the muscle, not the whole
| digestive tract - but I still have the PSP concerns. If I
| find a legal lobster when the season opens, I'll eat that our
| of Mission Bay.
|
| Just looking for life itself, just to see and photograph - my
| two go-to spots are Mission Point Park and La Jolla Shores
| between the Marine Room and the cove. Mission Point is nice
| -- the protected cove feels safe, but the channel side is
| pretty exciting too. My wife and I are beginning to branch
| out to other parts of the bay. If you'd like to chat more, DM
| me on iNaturalist.
| https://www.inaturalist.org/people/dolfindave
| bitxbitxbitcoin wrote:
| Having gone on several sea urchin foraging trips at the lowest
| tide each month I can say that the chances of finding an urchin
| with spent nads is higher in q1 and q2 due to their mating
| season. On the other hand, go to an underwater urchin barren
| and they're likely all zombies.
| gardenfelder wrote:
| >Their five jaws are arranged in a shape Aristotle described as a
| 'lantern' but should have called a 'horrible beak'
| bitxbitxbitcoin wrote:
| Aristotle referred to the whole sea urchin as a lantern and
| history has relegated it to just the mouth but it's technically
| supposed to include the whole body too.
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