Where Black sea urchin has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Arbacia lixula, mapped and tabulated by country.
9,068 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Arbacia lixula through GBIF, from 37 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 9,068
- Countries / areas
- 37
- Mapped locations
- 151
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 136
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2278772
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
France — 4,854 records; Spain — 2,157 records; Greece — 885 records; Italy — 308 records; Croatia — 277 records; Brazil — 208 records; Portugal — 106 records; Montenegro — 59 records; Türkiye — 49 records; Albania — 29 records; Malta — 27 records; Algeria — 22 records; Cyprus — 16 records; Tunisia — 15 records; Angola — 9 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2278772) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2278772&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Marine regions with a WoRMS distribution record
European waters (ERMS scope); Azores; Morocco; Mediterranean Sea; Greek Exclusive Economic Zone; Italy; Azores Exclusive Economic Zone; Aegean Sea; Western Mediterranean; Central Mediterranean; Adriatic Sea; Levantine Basin; South America.
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=124249 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 9,068 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 18 of the 37 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 53 records in total (Tunisia, Angola, Egypt, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Monaco, New Zealand, Sao Tome and Principe).
136 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2278772) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2278772&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=124249 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Gallery
Related in Black sea urchin
Links follow this subject's own source article.
Elsewhere in Black sea urchin
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced