Coelopleurus maculatus
Amazing fact
The long spines of the Benten sea urchin are triangular in cross section.
National Museum of Natural Science
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The long spines of the Benten sea urchin are triangular in cross section.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Coelopleurus maculatus
- Scientific name
- Coelopleurus maculatus
- Japanese name
- ベンテンウニ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Echinoidea
- Order
- Arbacioida
- Family
- Arbaciidae
- Genus
- Coelopleurus
It is found in seas from Sagami Bay to Kyushu, off the coast of Fukui Prefecture and in Toyama Bay.
Its long spines are pale yellow-green with thick vermilion bands, so they stand out clearly.
How the Coelopleurus maculatus lives
It eats both animals and plants. It lives on silt on the sea floor. It rarely appears in shallow water, where divers may spot it.
National Museum of Natural Science黒潮生物研究所Basic data
- Range
- Sagami Bay to Kyushu, the Fukui coast, and Toyama Bay
Where the Coelopleurus maculatus has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ベンテンウニChecked: 2026-11-04
- 黒潮生物研究所 — ベンテンウニChecked: 2026-11-07
- National Museum of Natural Science — 08 Coelopleurus maculatus Agassiz & Clark, 1907Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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