Purple sea urchin (Anthocidaris crassispina)

Japanese: ムラサキウニ(紫海胆) - ムラサキウニ（英語表記）Anthocidaris crassispina

An echinoderm of the family Echinidae in the class Echinoidea (illustration). It is found from central Honshu southwards, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and lives between rocks or under stones in shallow waters from the low tide line to a depth of 20m. The shell is 4-7cm in diameter and about 3cm in height, and is slightly flattened and hemispherical. Both the body surface and spines are black-purple, and the long spines are almost the same length as the shell diameter, with sharp tips, and are arranged in two vertical rows in the inter-shell ampulla and in the imperforate parts of the ampulla. In the inter-ampulla, there are rows of medium-sized spines in the center and on both sides. The tube feet contain tridentate or rod-shaped bone fragments, and 5-8 pairs are arranged in an arc on each shell plate.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ウニ綱ナガウニ科の棘皮（きよくひ）動物（イラスト）。本州中部以南，香港，台湾に分布し，低潮線から水深20mまでの浅海の岩礁の間や石の下にすむ。殻の直径4～7cm，高さ3cm内外で，やや扁平な半球形をしている。体表，とげともに黒紫色で，長いとげは殻径とほぼ同長で先端がとがり，殻の間歩帯と歩帯の無孔部とに2縦列に並んでいる。間歩帯ではその中央と両側に中位のとげの列がある。管足には三叉状や棒状の骨片を含んでいて，1個の殻板に5～8対が弧状に並んでいる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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