Echinoidea |
Camarodonta |
Toxopneustidae
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Benthic; depth range 2 - 130 m (Ref. 85345). Temperate; 53°N - 13°N, 32°W - 37°E
Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea: from Ireland to the English Channel (French coast) to Spain, into the entire Mediterranean, to Morocco and Gulf of Guinea, including the islands of Azores, Madeira, Canary and Cape Verde. Temperate and subtropical.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Maximum depth from Ref. 106595. Intertidal (Ref. 106595) to sublittoral (Ref. 106593). Found on rocky shores (Refs. 106372, 106591, 106593, 106597). Also on grounds consisting of gravel encrusted with calcareous red algae (Ref. 106597). Herbivorous grazer (Ref. 106997). Grazes on encrusting coralline algae on rocks, on dead Posidonia oceanica leaves and their epiphytes, and on the rhizomes and roots of the seagrass when accessible (Ref. 106595). Scrapes the external part of rhizomes and consumes the roots entirely (Ref. 106997). Bioeroder since it feeds on any coralline substrate (Ref. 106598).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Members of the class Echinoidea are gonochoric. Fertilization is external. Brooding is common, eggs are held either on the peristome, around the periproct or deep into the concavities on the petaloids. Life cycle: Embryos develop into planktotrophic larvae (echinoplateus) and live for several months before they sink to the bottom using their tube feet to adhere on the ground where they metamorphose into young urchins.
Gaspar, M.B., M.D. Dias, A. Campos, C.C. Monteiro, M.N. Santos, A. Chicharo and L. Chicharo. 2001. (Ref. 2714)
IUCN Red List Status
(Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
CITES status (Ref. 108899)
Not Evaluated
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Human uses
| FishSource |
Tools
More information
Population dynamicsGrowth
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycleReproductionMaturityFecunditySpawningEggsEgg developmentLarvaeLarval dynamics Human RelatedAquaculture profiles
Stamps, coins, misc.
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature
(Ref.
115969): 14.1 - 21.3, mean 18.2 (based on 280 cells).
Price category
Unknown.