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A Very Festive and Very Spiny Urchin [Video]

Sea urchin? Or tree topper?

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



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I wanted to get into the holiday spirit a bit today with a beautiful, ornament-like urchin, which is also part of my continuing recap of the video highlights of the 2016 ocean exploration season.

It was seen during this summer’s cruise around the Marianas Trench by the team on the Okeanos Explorer, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ocean exploration vessel, on June 25, 2016 in the crater on the southeast of the Eifuku Seamount (an underwater volcano) at around 1600 feet. Click on the image or image credit to watch the video, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you from me and the Cousin Itt of urchins.