Phalacrocidaris japonica
Amazing fact
The underside of the Bouzu sea urchin’s shell is flat, with a slight hollow around the mouth.
국립해양생물자원관
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The underside of the Bouzu sea urchin’s shell is flat, with a slight hollow around the mouth.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Phalacrocidaris japonica
- Scientific name
- Phalacrocidaris japonica
- Japanese name
- ボウズウニ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Echinoidea
- Order
- Cidaroida
- Family
- Cidaridae
- Genus
- Phalacrocidaris
A sea urchin that lives on sandy, muddy bottoms in somewhat deep water, south of Sagami Bay and in the Sea of Japan.
The spines on the upper half of its shell do not grow, which gave it the name bouzu-uni.
The long spines on its sides are thought to possibly keep its body from sinking into the mud.
Basic data
- Range
- Sagami Bay and southward, and Sea of Japan
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 — ボウズウニChecked: 2026-11-04
- 국립해양생물자원관 — 가는관극성게Checked: 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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