Is this Sea Urchin Reef Safe

[ken6217]

I just purchased this sea urchin and it is in a bucket acclimating. While I was doing that, I tried to do a search on the net. Does anyone know if it is safe for shrimp, snails, sps and lps? Also can they potentially jab lps and an anemone with it's spines? I asked the store owner and he said it was a pin cushion sea urchin and it was safe. Upon looking on the net it looks closer to a Long Spine Banded Sea Urchin. If it is that, this was part of the description: "Juveniles generally eat algae, and the adults are carnivores, preying on invertebrates."

Does anyone know of this and know if it is safe to put in my tank? This is a picture I just took of it.

http://www.pbase.com/image/81823538

Thanks,
Ken

 

[MadReefer]

Ken,
I don't believe that is a pin cushin urchin. My LFS store a few months back had two in a separate tank and they were huge. I have a pin cushin and the only trouble is it knocking down/moving rock. It has crawled over my zoos and paly but they just close up until it moves on.

Mark

 

[mladencovic]

Pincushion is not a scintific name and there are several species in the trade that are called pincushin urchins. Now, all those that I have seen being called pincushion urchins are densly covered with much shorter spines, and yours doesn't look like any of them. Most of the urchins are reef safe, however they are still very dangerous - to HUMANS . Yours looks very prickley, indeed. Here is a short article about urchins:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/urchins.htm

 

[ken6217]

Thanks for the comments.
I saw that article and some others after doing more research. On one hand, this urchin really is beautiful. It looks almost like a lion fish in person. After further reading, I am concerned with it accidentally spearing some of my LPS or an anenome. I'm going to bring it back to the store to play it safe.
Ken