Help! Urchin flat!

[Whiterabbitrage]

Was just doing a water change and happened to see my rock boring urchin. It wasn't even hiding! It was out in the open, and flattened, like it had deflated. Not a round urchin, but a flat, pricky pancake. I thought it was dead, so netted it out, but it started to inflate once it was out of the water, so I put it back. What's going on? For the last week it has been hanging out around the rim of the tank. It's only 3 years old.

Temp 77
Ph
8.2
SG 1.025
Alk 9
Ca 430
Mg 1350

How long do these guys live? Does anyone know?

 

[Nina51]

that's weird!! i found my halloween urchin dead a couple of weeks ago. had him almost 3 years, not sure how old he was when i got him. hmmm......

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

I hope he's not dying. He's my coolest hitchhiker.

 

[Calappidae]

Pics?

Sounds really weird.. urchins have a hard bone like structure inside them that keeps their shape.

 

[Ron Reefman]

If the spines are still attached to the round test, it can look kind of flat. But that's usually a bad sign. It's possible it's not healthy or not happy, and the fact that it held up the spines when you took it out of the water is probably a good sign.

Good luck.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Thanks. I'll try to get pictures. I wish I knew what was wrong.

 

[Betta132]

Are you absolutely certain it's the same urchin? An urchin has a hard shell that keeps it round. There's no way to flatten an urchin without crushing it. However, there are a few species of urchins that are sort of flat because their shell grows that way. You could have one of those that just showed up.
Or it's possible that the urchin just had its spines very low for some reason. Pictures would definitely help.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Well it's not flat like a pancake, more like an ottoman. Or a soufflé. I got a picture but not sure how to post it since I'm on an iPad and not a computer. Any volunteers? I could email the picture to them and they could post it.

 

[sam.basye]

Here is a pic of the OP's urchin.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Thanks Sam for posting my pix!
So here is the urchin and to me he looks flat. He used to be a round little golf ball. Now he's flat. Is this a normal shape shift or is he dying?
Thanks.

 

[sam.basye]

Looks to me like a rock boring urchin, which I have two of. One looks like yours and the other with tan spines. Mine are more oblong than round with the top and bottom being the flatter sides.

How long ago and how big was it when it was 'round'?

I think they might start out round and they get more oblong shaped as the mature once their body is about 1.5" across.

 

[Betta132]

My guess would be it used to have more short spines on top that made it appear to be round. Or it could have changed shape a bit as it grew, I suppose. I'm not familiar with rock-boring urchins.

 

[Calappidae]

I have the same guy (although pure black) and he looks flattened like that all the time. Not sure why they do it, but that's what looks normal to me.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Joe you have made me so happy!! Thank you for your response.

 

[Noah 123]

When I go to Mexico for vacation I see these and most of them are flat like that, so I wouldn't be too worried.

 

[sam.basye]

I took some pictures of mine for you, they look the same shape wise. One has tan spines and the other is kind of reddish.









I'd say your urchin looks normal as well.