Purple-spined sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata)

Classification (WoRMS)

Full classification as recorded by WoRMS: Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Echinodermata · Class: Echinoidea · Order: Arbacioida · Family: Arbaciidae · Genus: Arbacia.

Accepted name: Arbacia punctulata · Authority: (Lamarck, 1816) · Taxonomic status: accepted · AphiaID: 158058.

Synonyms and superseded combinations recorded for this taxon: Anapesus carolinus Holmes, 1860; Arbacea punctulata; Echinocidaris (Agarites) punctulata (Lamarck, 1816); Echinocidaris davisii A. Agassiz, 1863; Echinocidaris punctulata (Lamarck, 1816); Echinus punctulatus Lamarck, 1816.

Source: World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158058 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Biology and life history (SeaLifeBase)

Measured values published by SeaLifeBase for Arbacia punctulata. Only fields the database actually holds for this species are shown; these are database values, not aquarium guidance.

Depth range: 0–225 m · Habitat zone: benthic.

SeaLifeBase notes: This species are exclusively found in the Thalassia sp. beds, a lagoonal mangrove cay (Ref. 86574)

Source: SeaLifeBase species summary (SpecCode 49977) — https://www.sealifebase.se/summary/Arbacia-punctulata.html (CC BY-NC 3.0 — non-commercial use only). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Distribution and occurrence records (GBIF)

2,375 georeferenced occurrence records for Arbacia punctulata are published through GBIF from 24 countries or marine areas. The map above plots 215 distinct locations from a sample of 2,375 records, omitting 67 inland records that carry an institution's coordinates rather than a collection site; it shows where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.

Most records by country or area: United States of America (2,167); Mexico (125); Cuba (14); Trinidad and Tobago (11); Canada (9).

The full country table, WoRMS marine regions and the sampling notes are on this species' Distribution page.

Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2278769) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2278769&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158058 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.

Description and natural history (Wikipedia)

The Atlantic purple sea urchin is a spherical, dark purple-spined sea urchin, with a nearly flat oral face. It can reach up to 8 cm in diameter, and is native to the North Atlantic Ocean.

Its natural habitat is in the western Atlantic Ocean. A. punctulata can be found in shallow water from Massachusetts to Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, from Texas to Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, the coast from Panama to French Guiana, and in the Lesser Antilles, usually on rocky, sandy, or shelly bottoms.

A. punctulata is omnivorous, consuming a wide variety of prey although Karlson classified it as a generalized carnivore. Galactolipids and an uncharacterized carbohydrate, but not phlorotannins, have been reported to act as herbivore deterrents in Fucus vesiculosus against A. punctulata.

For more than a century, developmental biologists have valued the sea urchin as an experimental model organism. Sea urchin eggs are transparent and can be manipulated easily in the research laboratory. Their eggs can be easily fertilized and then develop rapidly and synchronously.

For decades, the sea urchin embryo has been used to establish the chromosome theory of heredity, the description of centrosomes, parthenogenesis, and fertilization. Research work during the last 30 years established such important phenomena as stable mRNA and translational control, isolation and characterization of the mitotic apparatus, and the realization that the major structural proteins of the mitotic apparatus are microtubules. Sea urchin studies provided the first evidence of actin in nonmuscle cells.

Arbacia punctulata is also a model organism of marine sediment toxicity and for sperm study.

Source: Wikipedia: Arbacia punctulata — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbacia_punctulata (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.

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