Beautiful with venomous spines Astropyga radiata (a.k.a. Fire Urchin) up close… and in a basin ready for mammal consumption. I was attracted to snap a picture at this species because of the star-shaped pattern around its anus.
I enjoyed so much splashing in the clear waters of Buenavista, Samal Island, Davao that I became totally unaware that this lovely orange specimen of A. radiata was in close proximity. When my companions gave a “tuyom” warning, my awareness level switched from minimum to medium. (Tuyom is the vernacular word for sea urchin.) Stepping on any spiny marine creatures was definitely not in my bucket list of the Samal tour.
I didn’t have my tape measure with me when I snapped this picture but my guesstimate of the small fire urchin was about 10 cm in diameter and the other one was about 15 cm in diameter… pretty large.
You can check out other species of sea urchins in Dabawenyo Life.