#4985 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Violet Sea Urchin
🇳🇱 Paarse zee-egel ·Sphaerechinus granularis
🪼 Jellyfish, starfish, worms & co 📍 in Europe, not in NL
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Bernat Garrigós · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Nicolas Lagière · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © whodden · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Frédéric ANDRE · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Daniel Benák · CC BY 4.0
- 7. Türkiye:© Umut Nuri Erdoğan · CC BY 4.0
- 8. Girona, ES-CT, ES:© Valentin de Mazancourt · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Mandre, Hrvatska:© Doris Delac · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Greece:© Athina Papadopoulou · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Sphaerechinus granularis is a species of sea urchin in the family Toxopneustidae, commonly known as the purple sea urchin . Its range includes the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 2,968 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck in 1816 (210 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Violet Sea Urchin
- Nederlands
- Paarse zee-egel
- scientific name
- Sphaerechinus granularis
- class
- Echinoidea
- order
- Camarodonta
- family
- Toxopneustidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 2,475
- sightings worldwide
- 2,968
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1816 by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
relatives· Toxopneustidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 118753, Wikidata Q1130991, GBIF 2278896, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.