Echinocardium cordatum (Pennant, 1777)

Description

Echinocardium cordatum is a sea urchin that may reach 9 cm in length. The thin test is globular, slightly oval and its upper face is flattened. It is densely covered by yellowish short thin spines. As it lives buried in sand or mud, this type of spines creates a ventilated space between sand and its tegument preventing asphyxiation. It can bury 10 cm deep in sand where it feeds on various micro-organisms.

Distribution

Echinocardium cordatum is found from 5 m to 200 m deep, in the Atlantic Ocean from Norway to South-Africa, in the English channel, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species

Biota (Superdomain)
Animalia (Kingdom)
Echinodermata (Phylum)
Echinozoa (Subphylum)
Echinoidea (Class)
Euechinoidea (Subclass)
Irregularia (Infraclass)
Atelostomata (Superorder)
Spatangoida (Order)
Brissidina (Suborder)
Spatangoidea (Superfamily)
Loveniidae (Family)
Echinocardiinae (Subfamily)
Echinocardium (Genus)
Echinocardium cordatum (Species)

Authors

Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005 - 2020.

Photos : © Wilfried Bay-Nouailhat. Published with his kind permission.
Websites and reference works : Consult bibliography

How to cite this page

Bay-Nouailhat A., December 2005, Description of Echinocardium cordatum, [On line] http://european-marine-life.org/30/echinocardium-cordatum.php, consulted on 2020 September 25.