Tag Archives: Urchins

A plethora of purple

This week’s Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge is ‘Purple.’ See more responses here.

I’d like to say I have some kind of theme going here, but I don’t, outside the color.

First up is a bee approaching a very purple bougainvillea.

In the gallery, we have a Fiery Skipper butterfly feeding on a Blue Heliotrope (Heliotropium amplexicaule) flower, a purple and white spider lily, and some dark purple Helmet Urchins clinging tenaciously to a rock.

A Fiery skipper butterfly feeds on a Blue Heliotrope flower in Hawaii

A Purple Ice Cream sign at Kapaau, Hawaii

Then there’s a sign advertising purple ice cream. Not sure what flavor that is, but I’m a bit wary.

And finally, a lush purple orchid.

Well red

A red windsock at Upolu in Hawaii — The windsock at Upolu Airport with Maui in the background.

This month’s Sunday Stills Color Challenge is ‘Red.’ See more responses here. A variety of subjects for this one!

A red pencil sea urchin in Hawaii — A Red Pencil Urchin in the shallows off Kohala.

A portrait of a chicken in Hawaii — A Red Pencil Urchin in the shallows off Kohala.

Whitespotted Toby and urchin

A Whitespotted Toby and a sea urchin in Hawaii

The Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby is a small pufferfish that’s endemic to Hawaii. Like many small fish, and juveniles of larger fish, they will use the quills of sea urchins to shelter from predators. Not that tobies need too much help. When attacked they inflate themselves like a balloon, making them hard to swallow. In addition, this toby secretes a nasty skin toxin which will deter most predators.

Bluestripe Butterflyfish

A Bluestripe Butterflyfish probes for food in the neighborhood of a Collector Urchin.

Abstracts: Rock-boring urchin art

Channels made by rock-boring urchins in Hawaii

Yesterday I posted a photo of a crown-of-thorns star, with a few rock-boring urchins in it. Today’s post shows one example of the channels left by these urchins. This image initially looked like a brain to me, but then I began to see more of a tree in it.

Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky/Lines.’ See more responses here.

Crown-of-Thorns star

I saw this crown-of-thorns star working its way across the rocks in shallow water. Those spiky spines are venomous so this is not something to handle. Also visible in this photo are some equally spiky, though not poisonous, rock-boring urchins

Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.

Collector urchins and their collections

A collector urchin in the waters off Hawaii

According to my marine invertebrates book, collector urchins (Tripneustes gratilla) gather algae, shells, and other material on their spines. Why they do this is not entirely clear. It might be for disguise, protection from the light, or even to store food. These urchins are quite common in the shallows and their adornments are many and varied.

Posted in response to Becky’s October Squares challenge theme of ‘Past Squares – Spiky.’ See more responses here.

Signs: Beware of spiny urchins

The beach in front of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

A sign at the beach in front of Four Seasons Resort Hualalai

I was amused by this sign on the beach in front of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. Spiny urchins in the rocks are like white lines on the highway. But of course, a visitor is not necessarily aware of this and the Four Seasons wouldn’t want any of its guests impaling themselves on spiky marine life, especially if they were likely to complain about it later.

This sign wasn’t far from another one that basically said you’d die if you set foot on the beach (here). Perhaps this was why the very lovely beach was deserted when I was there.

Graham's Island

Life on the Big Island of Hawaii