Echinometra mathaei
Scientific Name:-
Echinometra mathaeiCommon Name:-
The Common Urchin
Malayalam Name:-
Naadan Kadal Chena
Category:-
Echinodermata
Status:-
Unknown
Description:-
Black coloured test and light grey spines with a characteristics pale ring on its base. Test hard, oval shaped and arched dorsally. Ambulacra tend to widen gradually in the oral direction. Ambulacral plates polyporous with four pore pairs in each arc. Each ambulacral plate with a primary tubercle and tubercle not crenulate. Spines thick, strong, sharp and conical in shape with a slightly blunt tip. Spines circular in cross section and longitudinally striated. Oral spines short and spatulate. Periproct with multiple plates. Globiferous pedicellariae with double poison sacs and one unpaired tooth near the end of each valve. Gill slits shallow. Angular pits or pores absent. Lantern well developed with paired rod-like epiphyses bridging across the splayed upper ends of the pyramids.
Remark:-
From Kerala, this species is reported from Vizhinjam coast (Jayakumari, 2004 and James, 2007).
Habitat:-
Shallow intertidal region
Synonyms:-
Echinus mathaei Blamville, 1825; Echinometra megastoma M’Chelland, 1840; Echinometra hetropora L. Agassiz & Descor, 1846; Echinometra brunea A Agassiz, 1863; Echinometra microtuberculata A Agassiz, 1863; Echinometra picta A Agassiz, and H. L. Clark, 1907; Ellipsechinus pictus A Agassiz, and H. L. Clark, 1907; Ellipsechinus decaryii Lambert, 1933
References:-
Clark, A. M and F.W.E. Rowe 1971. Monograph of shallow-water Indo West Pacific echinoderms. London. 238 pp.
James, D. B. 2007. Echinoderms of the West Coast of India. Fishing Chimes, 27(7): 19- 21.
Jayakumari, M. 2004. Studies on the ecophysiology of echinoderms along the coast of Kerala. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to the University of Kerala,. 226pp.
Sastry, R. K. (2007). Echinodermata of India: An annotated check list . Rec. zool. Surv. India. Occ. paper No.271: 1-387