About Meoma ventricosa (Lamarck, 1816)
Commonly known as the red heart urchin, Meoma ventricosa (Lamarck, 1816) has a somewhat flattened, heart-shaped hard test (skeleton) formed from tightly interlocking calcium carbonate plates. The entire test is covered with short, dense, moveable spines that grow from small tubercles. The test itself is dark reddish-brown, and its spines are a slightly paler shade. While the urchin retains pentagonal radial symmetry, it also has partial bilateral symmetry, because one of its interambulacral areas is undeveloped, leaving only four visible. Its mouth is located on the oral (under) surface near the anterior end, and its anus is positioned at the posterior end. The red heart urchin is distributed in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas, Florida, and Bermuda. It lives on reef flats, in turtle grass beds, in areas dominated by coral fragments, and on deep reefs. It burrows into the seabed and favors sedimentary areas made of sand, silt, or coarse coral rubble. It can be found from the intertidal zone down to a depth of 200 metres (660 ft).
