Tuxedo Urchin

Care at a glance

Overview

A peaceful bottom-dwelling grazer that spends its time mowing algae off rock and glass. Keep one per tank as they need a lot of grazing surface. Slow drip acclimation is important because urchins react badly to sudden shifts in salinity, pH, or temperature.

In the wild

Found on shallow Indo-Pacific reef flats and rubble zones where it grazes film algae off rock and hard surfaces. In the aquarium it wanders the rockwork and glass day and night, often decorating itself with bits of shell, rubble, or coral frags it picks up. It needs a mature tank with a steady supply of algae to graze, plus dried seaweed if the film algae runs low.

Good to know

Mespilia globulus is a regular urchin in the family Temnopleuridae, recognizable by five broad bands of tightly packed short spines (usually blue or black) separating five bare test zones. Like other echinoids it moves on tube feet and grazes with a five-toothed Aristotle's lantern. It is highly sensitive to copper-based medications and elevated nitrate, and spine loss is an early sign of poor water quality or a stalled acclimation.

Did you know

It routinely piles shells, rubble, and stray coral frags onto its top as camouflage, so keepers often find their loose frags rearranged around the tank.

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