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Variable Fire Urchin
Seen in Malapascua, Philippines (2012). Photo by Mark Bockstael (my husband).
Asthenosoma varium is a sea urchin (an echinoderm, a member of the phylum that also includes star fish ). To 22 cm (8 3/4 in.). Uniform arrangement of tightly packed spine clusters variable in color and length on a reddish spherical body. Long yellow thin spines on lower skirt. Its upper venom tipped spines, with distinctive globular swellings below the tip, can inflict a painful sting if handled; the pain lasts as long as several hours. This capacity, perhaps coupled with its reddish brown color, has given it the common name Fire Urchin.
Habitat: Growing up to 22 cm (9 in.) in diameter, it lives on sand and rubble sea bottoms in the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to Australia and Southern Japan.
''Asthenosoma varium'' is a sea urchin. Growing up to 22 cm in diameter, it lives on sand and rubble sea bottoms in the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to Australia and Southern Japan. It plays host to the commensal shrimp ''Periclemenes colemani'' and the zebra crab, ''Zebrida adamsii''.
