{"id":15426,"date":"2024-11-23T00:07:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T05:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T00:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:00:13","slug":"black-boring-sea-urchin","status":"publish","type":"species","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/","title":{"rendered":"Black boring sea urchin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black boring sea urchins have an oval shape and are covered in 100-150 short, thick spines that radiate outward from their center, making them look like spiky pincushions. Their spines are venomous and serve to protect them from predators. Known as “boring” sea urchins because they are often found burrowing into coral and rock surfaces, these urchins are important herbivores, feeding on algae and helping to maintain the balance of the ecosystem on coral reefs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15427,"template":"","class_list":["post-15426","species","type-species","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlack boring sea urchin | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black boring sea urchin | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Black boring sea urchins have an oval shape and are covered in 100-150 short, thick spines that radiate outward from their center, making them look like spiky pincushions. Their spines …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T05:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/62559d98-b324-4e73-bc3a-4997b71cad4b_lg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/\",\"name\":\"Black boring sea urchin | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/62559d98-b324-4e73-bc3a-4997b71cad4b_lg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-23T05:07:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T05:00:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/62559d98-b324-4e73-bc3a-4997b71cad4b_lg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/62559d98-b324-4e73-bc3a-4997b71cad4b_lg.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Photos of animals at Mote Aquarium taken on Monday, January 24, 2017.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Species\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Black boring sea urchin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\",\"name\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"description\":\"Today's Research for Tomorrow's Oceans\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-mote-marine-laboratory-aquarium.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mote.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Black boring sea urchin | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/black-boring-sea-urchin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Black boring sea urchin | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium","og_description":"Black boring sea urchins have an oval shape and are covered in 100-150 short, thick spines that radiate outward from their center, making them look like spiky pincushions. 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