the.com/urchin
a living pincushion that walks on its teeth and watches with its entire body.
means A spiny, globe-shaped marine animal of the seafloor — though the word once meant a hedgehog, and later a ragged, mischievous child.
from From Old French 'herichon,' a hedgehog, descended from Latin 'ericius,' meaning the same prickly creature. In English 'urchin' first named the hedgehog itself; because shabby, bristling street children seemed to share its rough, spiny look, the word shifted to them — and the spiny sea creature borrowed the name too, becoming the 'sea urchin.'
- teeth
- Five-jawed mouth called Aristotle's lantern grinds rock
- vision
- Their whole skin acts as one big eye
- feet
- They move on tiny suction-cup tube feet
- lifespan
- Some red urchins live over 100 years
- name
- Old English for hedgehog, the prickly cousin
purple sea urchin — covers 95% of the california kelp forest floor, causing ecosystem collapse since 2014
edible sea urchin — uni in japanese cuisine, harvested off hokkaido and california coasts for $200+ per pound
crown-of-thorns starfish — venomous urchin relative that devastated the great barrier reef in 2020 outbreak