I noticed today that my long spine urchin no longer has long spines. It is about 4 years old now and from all observations continues to thrive - although he has not grown in size I have notices that his spines are about half the length that they were about a year ago. The length is very symetrical which lends me to believe that it is not a result of banging around the tank. I haven't done any research yet, just thought I would see if anyone had read anything that might explane this?
Sorry chris, my knoledge of sea urchins is limited. LOL all I know is to be carefull when scuba diving around them or you will end up with a sore forehead like me. And that they make a tasty (favorite snack) of the califorina sea otter.
Back in conway i had a small one that lost half it's spines. It was my fault b/c it wasn't getting enough food. Once i noticed, it had red sores where the spines were. I fed it a alge wafer once a week and within a month it was back to normal. Doesn't sound the same but that's all I can think of. Someone in the club has it not as i gave him up before the move.
You've probably read all this: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/urchindisfaqs.htm Does it have any other symptoms of ill health?
Does it have the orange "eye spot" on top. Funny that where the poop comes out looks like an eye. If it doesn't have the orange, I think it probably isn't a longspine. We have a couple in the 55gal that are not long spine, but are black. Just a thought.
