A New Species of Pencil Urchin (Histocidaris new sp.)
from 558 meters (1,830 ft.) off Marchena Island, Galápagos.
(Photograph by April Goldfinch)

This slow-moving urchin uses its sharp teeth to scrape tiny organisms off the deep-sea rocks where it lives. Closely related fossil forms are as old as 350 million years! See Pawson & Ahearn (In Press).  (30 cm diameter).

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