---
title: "Pacific Purple Sea Urchin"
description: "Strongylocentrotus purpuratus — Other animals. Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is a species of sea urchin in the family Strongylocentrotidae, which is commonly known as the purple sea urchin or Pacific purple sea urchin."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/pacific-purple-sea-urchin
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Pacific Purple Sea Urchin

> Strongylocentrotus purpuratus — Other animals. Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is a species of sea urchin in the family Strongylocentrotidae, which is commonly known as the purple sea urchin or Pacific purple sea urchin.

- Scientific name: *Strongylocentrotus purpuratus*
- Category: `other` (Other animals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 20261
- Wikidata: [Q1936405](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1936405)
- iNaturalist taxon: [48035](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48035)

## Names

- en: Pacific Purple Sea Urchin
- de: Purpur-Seeigel
- es: Erizo de mar morado
- fr: Oursin pourpre

## Countries with the most observations

US (16510), CA (2142), MX (251)

## Summary

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is a species of sea urchin in the family Strongylocentrotidae, which is commonly known as the purple sea urchin or Pacific purple sea urchin. It lives along the eastern edge of the Pacific Ocean extending from Ensenada, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada.
After one of its main predators, the sea otter, experienced a population decline, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus became a threat to the health of kelp forests as its own population boomed. The species is also used as a model organism and its genome was the first echinoderm genome to be sequenced.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strongylocentrotus_purpuratus

## Photo

![Pacific Purple Sea Urchin](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/pacific-purple-sea-urchin/medium.jpg)

Photo: Diego Blanco · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/268012592

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/pacific-purple-sea-urchin?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).