Urchin ID, please

[razord]

Hello,
I've had this guy in my tank for a few months. He came with my TBS LR. Seems to not bother anything and just work around the same few rocks. Can someone ID what type of urchin I have? and anything that I should know about having it?

Thanks!

 

[mcgyvr]

Rock boring/Purple Reef Urchin I'd say..

 

[GimpyFin]

+1, purple sea urchin. Never owned one, but they move about the rocks looking for algae AFAIK.

 

[razord]

reef safe then?

 

[GimpyFin]

I think they're reef safe, similar to a black longspine. They might get a little destructive in searching for algae, but harmless to most everything else. Although, I'm still not 100% sure, so hopefully someone who has kept one will chime in.

 

[MarkW64]

I have 18 of these that came with my TBS rock about 8 months ago. On his website Richard just calls them black urchins -- but they are certainly purple in the right light. One was medium sized -- the others all half an inch or less. Now they are all 2+ inches. They work hard keeping the rock clean. I've never seen them harm anything. Mine welcomed us back from vacation three days ago by all spawning!

 

[jfabritz]

My urchin looks just like that from my TBS rock. It roams the rock eating coralline algae. I do see it try the walls and other surfaces on occasion, but when hungry, it will crew on my rock for sure.

I did find a new small one. I wonder if it had a baby... ;-)