Echinoderms

Sheriff-Badge Starfish

Starfish are not too common here in Hawaii, but we did manage to find this guy. For a starfish, he is pretty fast. You can see how fast he moves in the video. They can grow up to 7in.

Dwarf Star

 This starfish is very common here in Hawaii, but rarley seen. Why? Because at full grown, its no bigger than a dime! This particular specimen was brown, but they range in color from green, all the way to red. They have 6-7 stubby arms, and reproduce by fission and litterly splits its self in half and becomes two seperate starfish!

Pacific Blue Starfish

 This incredibly colorful starfish is not found in Hawaii, but is common throughout the south Pacific and Indian oceans. It was found on Upolu Island in Western Samoa.

Spiny Brittle Star 

This group of Euchinoderms differs from sea stars in both appearance and mobility. Brittle Stars have a small 5 sided body in which the 5 arms radiate out of. These guys are also incredibly fast, and can "walk" across the sea floor by moving its arms. A Starfish on the other hand moves by means of hundreds of tiny tube feet on the underside of the animal. Very abundant here in Hawaii, they are found under rocks, and coral debris. This species is solid black with small soft "spines" covering its arms.

Toothed Brittle Star 

This attractive brittle star hides during the day in crevices or rocks and coral. At night it extends its arms out into open water, and feeds by capturing passing particles of food in the water.  It is distinguishable from the spiny brittle star, by the large grey stripes on its arms.

Reticulated Brittle Star 

This is one of the smallest brittle stars, and one of the hardest to find. It blends in really well with the sand and rocks that it lives on.  Ive actually captured this guy numerous times before, but the guys are so quick and crafty that by the time I got back to the beach to photograph one that I caught, It would have found its way out of my bucket by squeezing through the holes in the lid. Every time! Finally I got so sick of it I stayed in the water and captured  5 of them and swam to shore. BY the Time I got to the beach, there were only two left in the bucket!

Pied Brittle Star

This Brittle Star is not as common as the above Star, but still abundant here.  If you look closely at its arms, it has small gold-white  bands of color. The central disk on this species can get about an inch across, and the arms about 3 inches long. 

Long-Arm Brittle Star

This uncommon brittle star can sometimes be found under rocks and coral rubble buried in the sand. Its color matches the sand perfectly making it hard to see even if uncovered. Its name comes from its unusually long arms that can get up to 6 inches long each!

Rock-Boring Urchin 

This is probably the most common urchin found in Hawaii. Members of this species are all lightly colored, sometimes purplish to pink, and have short dull spines. They have five teeth on there underside that they use to "bore" into rocks where they spend most of there lives. Some smaller urchins will bore into holes when they are juveniles and grow so big that they are permanently stuck in the hole!

Oblong Urchin

Very much similar to the rock boring urchin, it differs only in color and the shape of its shell. In this photo you can clearly see the five part mouth on its under-side. This mouth is often refered to as  "Aristotle's Lantern" in the scientific community. Like the above urchin, it uses these 5 teeth along with its spines to bore into coral and rocks.

Banded Urchin

This urchin can vary in color, but almost always has the multicolored  bands on its spines. It larger spines are long and dull, however its shorter spines are very sharp and mildly venomous. (Me and Mark can both attest to that!) The mild pain from the venom usually subsides within an hour. There is sometimes a very small commensal shrimp found attached to its spines, but I have not found it yet.

Collectors Urchin

This is a short spined urchin that can safely be handled. It can get rather large (this specimen was almost 6 inches across). It is called the collector urchin because it rolls around in the substrate of the ocean floor collecting pieces of coral, seaweed, or whatever else clings to its test. This is a form of camouflage that several other species of urchins also use. Some specimens of collectors urchin have a beautifully colored purple test visible through the spines. 

Pebble Collectors Urchin

 

This pretty urchin, much like the Collectors Urchin, uses bits of sea debris to help camouflage itself. When night time falls, it removes the debris on its back and roams the reef looking for food. In the second picture, you can see the hundreds of tiny tube feet extended looking for things to cling to.

Ten-Lined Urchin

This cool little urchin was found under a rock at Magic Island. I was not sure what kind of urchin it was till I got home, but I was sure excited to find him. He has a five part geometric pattern on him, and all of his spines are arranged in 10 vertical lines, hence the name. 

Warty Sand Urchin

This tiny urchin gets no bigger then a quarter, but is usually half that size. Found in the shallows it is difficult to find  due to its size, color, and its habit of burring under the sand. I found him by pure accident while overturning some rocks in pursuit of a crab. I never caught the crab, but I did find this gem! 

Red Pencil Urchin 

This is such a cool looking urchin!  It can be found throughout the Pacific, but the ones here in Hawaii are be far the most beautiful. Unlike other urchins, the spines of these are dull and thick. Ancient Hawaiians would sometimes use the spines as writing utensils. There is only one place on this island that I have been able to find these guys, and Mark and I made a special trip to the other side of the island just to photograph one. It required several dives down to depths of over 15 feet, to get one. By day they wedge themselves into cracks in rocks and coral, and emerge at night to feed.

Warty Sea Cucumber 

This unusual sea cucumber has become a favored of mine. In the water its body is firm to the touch, and covered in wart-like projections. When you pick it up out of the water it suddenly goes limp, and squirts water at you!

Black Sea Cucumber 

Pretty Common on sandy floors here in Hawaii,  This cucumber can get get to almost 2 feet long. If you search hard enough, you can usually find a small commensal crab that lives on the cucumber. You can read about it under the crustaceans tab.

Plump Sea Cucumber

This sea cucumber was a pretty cool find, because it is usually found at depths way beyond my capability of diving. When stretched out it can attain lengths of about a foot long.

Difficult Sea Cucumber 

The name of this black soft-bodied cucumber comes from the many extremely stick threads that it ejects from its anus at just the slightest of provocation. If these threads come in contact with your skin (or a fish) they are very difficult to remove. (I know this from experience lol)

Stubborn Sea Cucumber 

Just like the Difficult Sea Cucumber above, the name of this guy also comes from the sticky threads that is ejects from its body. This cucumber gets about three times as big as the Difficult Sea Cucumber. You can identify this species by the 5-6 dark bands on its body.

Lion's Paw Sea Cucumber

These are a fascinating sea cucumber that is strictly nocturnal. About six inches long, they can expand up to 4 feet long! in some places at night, you can see several of theses stretched out like noodles, grazing over the rocks and seaweed in search of food. Their hollow body is covered in thousands of microscopic hooks that stick to any thing it touches, (including your hand!) like Velcro. If removed from the water, its body instantly becomes limp and collapses. To feed, its oral tentacles capture food particles and pass it to its mouth. You can see this in the video.