Is this urchin reef safe?

[Imrahilwjz]

I suspect it of eating some pulsing xenia in my DT but my photographic evidence is a little uncertain. Is this a not reef safe species? Thanks

 

[TX_REEF]

if you can confirm it really eats pulsing xenia, I bet people would buy it just for that reason!!

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

if you can confirm it really eats pulsing xenia, I bet people would buy it just for that reason!!

U read my mind. Lol

 

[exnisstech]

Looks like a pencil urchin. I have not kept one but info online has them and being reef safe.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

i have one that ive had for a long time in my tank. never had it bother corals

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I've thought of a way to test it. My fear is that it might eat other corals if it ate them. I saw a post by @ISpeakForTheSeas about certain species not being reef safe. Then saw the rock cleared off. I've been second guessing myself about it. I guess I could put it in an acclimation box with some xenia and see if they get eaten.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I've thought of a way to test it. My fear is that it might eat other corals if it ate them. I saw a post by @ISpeakForTheSeas about certain species not being reef safe. Then saw the rock cleared off. I've been second guessing myself about it. I guess I could put it in an acclimation box with some xenia and see if they get eaten.

Looks like E. thouarsii; I'd call it not reef-safe to reef-safe-with-caution - the most common pencil urchin species in the hobby (to my knowledge) is E. tribuloides, which I personally label just not reef-safe:

Yours is Eucidaris thouarsii (you can tell by the color at the base of the spines) - also not entirely reef-safe (it is known to eat corals and other immobile/slow-moving inverts sometimes, and it's recognized as being detrimental to coral growth around the edge of reefs), but much less likely to start eating corals, as this one is herbivorous/omnivorous rather than spongivorous in the wild (so it does have at least some preference for algae, and it tends to be a generalist feeder, so it'll eat a wide variety of algae too).

Trophic ecology of sea urchins in coral-rocky reef systems, Ecuador - PMC

Sea urchins are important grazers and influence reef development in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Diadema mexicanum and Eucidaris thouarsii are the most important sea urchins on the Ecuadorian coastal reefs. This study provided a trophic ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Looks like E. thouarsii; I'd call it not reef-safe to reef-safe-with-caution - the most common pencil urchin species in the hobby (to my knowledge) is E. tribuloides, which I personally label just not reef-safe:

Thanks! For some reason I missed your response on the other thread. Sorry for making you answer twice

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks! For some reason I missed your response on the other thread. Sorry for making you answer twice

Haha, that's fine - I didn't realize it was you asking in both.