Sea urchin shells have fascinated me for years.  They display a vast array of exquisitely beautiful, and rather abstract, form, pattern and color.  These photographs are intended to make this beauty accessible to others.  The urchin pictured here range in size from a few inches wide to less than an inch.   Some of these pictures are of the full animal’s shell, with or usually without their spines; some are close-ups of just a part of the shell, typically an oral (mouth and teeth) or aboral (anal) view.  I call these close-ups “murals”.  Most of the urchin here are recently collected, but a few are from the fossil record.  The last two photographs are not of urchin, but are of close relatives.

Here’s a little scientific terminology from my friend and urchin expert Henk van Noordenburg in the Netherlands:  In regular sea urchins the periproct (anus) is positioned on the aboral (upper) surface.  The peristome (mouth) is below. The dental apparatus is called "lantern of Aristotle" named after the Greek philosopher who was the first person to make drawings of the system.

Contact me (by clicking the “Email me” button at the bottom of this page) to order fine art prints from these images.