Hawaiians call sea urchins Wana which is pronounced (pronounced “vah-na”).
Sea urchins are also called sea hedgehogs, sand dollars and sea biscuits.
Sea urchins are animals that are typically small, spiny and round.
They live in all the earth's oceans, at depths ranging from the tide line to 15,000 feet.
It is legal to catch sea urchins in Hawaii although there's a limit to the amount of sea urchins you can catch per day in Hawaii.
According to the law in Hawaii about catching Sea Urchins the following is what is listed as the law.
Urchins: limit of five per species per day.
He'e: limit of two per day; may be taken only by hand harvest or with a stick no more than two feet in length.
According to California Law about sea urchins red sea urchins and purple sea urchins may be taken in any number for the purpose of restoring the kelp ecosystem.
Red sea urchins and purple sea urchins may only be taken by hand or with manually operated hand-held tools.
Sea urchin is considered a delicacy in several parts of the world, including Japan.
Three hundred grams of some Japanese urchin can sell for $800.00
Sea urchins are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea.
About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone — from the intertidal seashore down to 5,000 meters.
The spherical, hard shells of sea urchins are round and spiny, ranging in diameter from 3 to 10 cm.
Some sea urchins “bite,” and a few have venomous bites.
Unlike a sea urchin sting, a bite does not leave spines behind.
Sea urchins may also trigger allergic reactions that can range from mild to potentially deadly.
People with a history of allergic reactions to bites or stings may be more vulnerable.
Sea urchins have two types of venomous organs - spines and pedicellaria. Spines produce puncture wounds.
Contact with sea urchin spines and their venom may trigger a serious inflammatory reaction and can lead to.
Sea urchins lack eyes, but can see with their tentacle-like tube feet instead, previous research has indicated.
Now, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have tested their vision in a new study, and shown that while sea urchins have fairly low resolution vision - it is good enough to fulfill their basic needs.
You can pick up most sea urchins without getting harmed--except for the long-spined sea urchin found in south Florida, whose poisonous sharp spines can penetrate human skin and break off.
In cooler waters up north, more harmless varieties like the purple and green sea urchins predominate.