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Echinocardium cordatum (Pennant, 1777)

Common heart urchin

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Echinocardium cordatum

Morgat, France, 5 meters, 2013, WBN

Echinocardium cordatum

Concarneau Bay, France, 5 meters, 2005, WB

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

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Biota (Monde)
Animalia (Règne)
Echinodermata (Embranchement)
Echinozoa (Sous-embranchement)
Echinoidea (Classe)
Euechinoidea (Sous-classe)
Irregularia (Infra-classe)
Atelostomata (Subter-classe)
Spatangoida (Ordre)
Brissidina (Sous-ordre)
Spatangoidea (Super-famille)
Loveniidae (Famille)
Echinocardiinae (Sous-famille)
Echinocardium (Genre)
Echinocardium cordatum (Espèce)

Authors

Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005 - 2025.

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

Image satellite: © Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community.

Données de distribution : Echinocardium cordatum (Pennant, 1777) in GBIF Secretariat (2019). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2025-09-10.

Guide des Tuniciers

Classification

Source : World Register of Marine Species



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Biota (Monde)
Animalia (Règne)
Echinodermata (Embranchement)
Echinozoa (Sous-embranchement)
Echinoidea (Classe)
Euechinoidea (Sous-classe)
Irregularia (Infra-classe)
Atelostomata (Subter-classe)
Spatangoida (Ordre)
Brissidina (Sous-ordre)
Spatangoidea (Super-famille)
Loveniidae (Famille)
Echinocardiinae (Sous-famille)
Echinocardium (Genre)
Echinocardium cordatum (Espèce)

Guide des Tuniciers

Authors

Text : Anne Bay-Nouailhat © 2005 - 2025.

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] https://european-marine-life.org/30/echinocardium-cordatum.php, consulted on 2025 September 10.

Author

Photographie de Anne Bay-Nouailhat

Anne Bay-Nouailhat

Chargée d’études en environnement marin
Plongeuse professionnelle - Naturaliste

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