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Echinothrix calamaris

Vana

Banded Longspine-Urchin

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Adult, Palau	73KB
Image:	Adult, Guam	59KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Banded Longspine-Urchin

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Vana (RR MG AT MK MH PK?)

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Food; Poisonous sting - serious

KEY FEATURES: An uncommon long spined urchin, with 5 bands of large spines about as long as the test diameter, and 5 bands of hairlike spines. Test to 10cm, spines to 9cm. The long spines are usually banded, but can also be uniformly pale grey; the hairlike spines are uniformly dark brown. The test is black, with a green dorso-ventral line in the centre of each band of long spines. The anal sac is bronze to dark, with very small white and/or black spots. The longest spines have barblets forming circular ridges, and the central hole is >0.5x the total diameter of the spine - making the ends of broken spines crushable between finger and thumb. The young have banded spines.

SIMILAR SPECIES: See under Echinothrix diadema

Enlarged Image of 'Echinothrix calamaris'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P	P	P				P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P?

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Echinothrix calamaris (Pallas, 1774)
SYNONYMS: Echinus calamaris

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ECHINODERMATA; ELEUTHEROZOA; ECHINOIDEA; REGULARIA; Aulodonta; DIADEMATIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: collect and check this species, G.McCormack 3/2005.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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