Strongylocentrotus purpuratus

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is a species of sea urchin in the family Strongylocentrotidae, which is commonly known as the purple sea urchin or Pacific purple sea urchin. It lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada.

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus

Ed Bierman from CA, usa · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
Pacific purple sea urchinPBDB
Sits inside
StrongylocentrotusPBDB
Diet
grazer, deposit feederPBDB, for Echinoidea
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Echinoidea
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Echinoidea
Vision
limitedPBDB, for Echinoidea
Environment
marinePBDB, for Echinodermata

Time the record covers

At least 2.4 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 19 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 19 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 17 of 19 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 19 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.58 Mya129 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

19 occurrences of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

7 formations

Unnamed — 33.24°N, 119.51°WSan Pedro Sand — 33.74°N, 118.28°WFernando — 34.05°N, 118.25°WBay Point — 32.78°N, 117.24°WSanta Barbara — 34.40°N, 119.69°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WTimms Point Silt — 33.73°N, 118.28°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Strongylocentrotus purpuratus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

899 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 18 sites for Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Strongylocentrotus purpuratus

Credit
Ed Bierman from CA, usa
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itStrongylocentrotus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Stimpson 1857)