Sea Urchins

This fully revised and expanded edition of Sea Urchins provides a wide-ranging understanding of the biology and ecology of this key component of the world's oceans. Coverage includes reproduction, metabolism, endocrinology, larval ecology, growth, digestion, carotenoids, disease and nutrition. Other chapters consider the ecology of individual species that are of major importance ecologically and economically, including species from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa. In addition, six new contributions in areas such as immunology, digestive systems and community ecology inform readers on key recent developments and insights from the literature.

Sea urchins are ecologically important and often greatly affect marine communities. Because they have an excellent fossil record, they are also of interest to paleontologists. Research on sea urchins has increased in recent years, stimulated first by recognition of their ecological importance and subsequently their economic importance. Scientists around the world are actively investigating their potential for aquaculture and fisheries, and their value as model systems for investigations in developmental biology continues to increase.

"A wide assortment of mostly academics in fields like oceanography and marine biology contributed to this volume...The book is divided roughly into two sections. The first is a description of virtually all aspects of sea-urchin biology and habitat…The second half of the book…gives in depth coverage to specific species of sea-urchins."—ProtoView.com, March 2014

"Consists of contributions from leading sea urchin experts, covering the basic biology of sea urchins and describing 17 species of edible sea urchines....This text is a solid compilation of the state of the knowledge of sea urchin biology, and will be a valuable addition to the library of any sea urchin researcher or marine biologists."—NORTHEASTERN NATURALIST