Urchin ID, Please

memorisa

protoZOA
Hi all,
I got this urchin a few weeks ago - my first urchin and i really liked it: however, I can't seem to be able to ID it. and i am actually thinking of getting rid of it (giving it away to a friend) because of 2 reasons:
1) it is eating the hard parts of my LPS (torch, hammer and octopus) OUCH!
2) i'm sick of finding at least 7 frag disks on the sand floor upside everytime i come home.

could you ID this fella for me please? the closest i can come up w/ is that its a diadema savigyni. but it has teh white spines and black spines.
the picture is a little blueish, i will try to post more pics when i go home later on today.

3022239939_0345189901_b.jpg



thanks a lot in advance,
 
I'd suspect Diadema antillarum, I've seen some snorkeling in Jamaica and they had the mixed white and black spines. Large urchins are a pain when they knock frags over though. The spines also are toxic, more of an irritant, so try to minimize pricking yourself on them.
 
I know a guy with a long spine in his reef and it does ok, great for getting rid of algae, but also will chew on the coralline a little, though this supposedly helps to spread it faster.
 
i have seen urchins like these about 18" tip to tip when i was diving in Cuba...need a big tank...if he is giving you trouble now, imagine a year down the road...
 
I agree with nano, they will get really big if this is the same species. Not sure how long that takes though, and I'm sure they'll eat alot of algae in that time as well.
 
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