About Phyllacanthus imperialis (Lamarck, 1816)
Phyllacanthus imperialis, a species of sea urchin in the family Cidaridae, has a wide range of common names including Sputnik urchin, imperial lance urchin, imperial sea urchin, imperial urchin, pencil sea urchin, lance urchin, knobby sputnik sea urchin, mine urchin, and land mine sea urchin. This species has distinctive thick, blunt spikes. Its hard outer test is brown or black, while the spikes themselves can be a variety of different colors. P. imperialis emerges at night to feed on invertebrates and sponges, and tends to stay hidden in coral reef holes during the day. It can be found across the entire Indo-Pacific region.
