Rock-boring Sea Urchin

Range: Indo-Pacific region, including the Hawaiian Islands

As their name suggests, one of the primary defense mechanisms of rock-boring sea urchins is creating small burrow-like holes in rocks to protect themselves from the extreme crashing waves of high rocky intertidal zones. The color of their spines vary among individuals, ranging anywhere from pale reddish-brown, to pale green, to white. Historically and today, rock-boring urchins were by far the most populous among Hawaiian urchins. These urchins can often and easily be spotted along Hawaiian coasts, with their distinct 1-1.5 inch burrows covering entire rocky shorelines. Traditionally, after harvesting, the tests from these urchins were used to make a unique salty sauce called kai ʻina, which Native Hawaiians typically enjoyed with raw fish (Titcomb 47).