The sea potato is a large, heart-shaped sea urchin. It is sometimes referred to as a heart urchin. You often see pieces of its bare and very breakable skeleton on the beach. A live sea potato has lots of spines which are flattened across its body. Its spines are shorter than by sea urchins and look more like hair than spines. Actually, it looks a lot like a hairy potato.
This Heart Urchin burrows in sand using special spines to construct and maintain a funnel in the sand to enable oxygenated water to circulate over its body while it is buried. It is possibly the world's most widely-distributed heart urchin. They feed on organic matter in the sediment.
How to identify Echinocardium cordatum?
What habitats does Echinocardium cordatum live in?
Sand areas, sometimes in shallow waters, to depth of 230m
What is the distribution of Echinocardium cordatum?
Cosmopolitan (World Oceans)
How big does Echinocardium cordatum grow?
Test diameter up to 6 cm
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