Sea Urchins — Points Taken

One of the more common critters of the sea is the urchin (or sea hedgehog, you can see a bit of a resemblance). Not only are they all over the place, but exist in a variety of sizes and colors. Their spines are partly for defense, but several predators consider them good eatin'. For that matter, some people like to chow down on them as well (but you won't find them stashed in my saddle bags for a snack on the trail, nosiree). The urchins prefer algae and kelp for their own nutrition.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Department of Commerce

Lots of people get injured on the sharp, pointy spines. Some of the spines even inject poison, so watch out. And I ain't kiddin', neither. While we're on the subject, sea urchin spines have been examined quite closely, and are found to be amazingly well designed by the Creator. No, the scientists give credit to evolution, even though they have no evidence of any kind of evolving going on. Ironic, they get biomimetics inspiration from something that they believe is the product of time, mutations, chance and all that, so they can intelligently design something.

Many beach trips have been spoiled by stepping on the sharp and strong spines of sea urchins. The urchin uses those spines for moving around and protection against predators. However, recently biologists and engineers from Australian universities have analyzed their ingenious structures under a powerful tool called micro-computed tomography (microCT).

To finish reading this short but interesting article, click on "Sea urchin spines — May inspire new materials".