Colobocentrotus: “Dragon Eggs” Scattered Along the Pacific Ocean Shore. What Is It Really? (8 photos)

You won't surprise anyone with a shell found on the beach. But how about finding a dragon egg on the shore? A wet purple ball covered in large scales, playfully shimmers in the sun. It is the rejected child of the ocean. The sea washes one, two, three eggs onto the rocks. As if alive, they climb into the hollows between the rocks and boulders. There they form entire "nests". What is it?





So where is your Mother of Dragons?

Alas, such "eggs" have nothing to do with magical creatures. But this does not make the creature any less fantastic! Meet the helmeted hedgehog, or coloboscentrotus.



Oh, what a pity, I really wanted to try dragon eggs!

"The best defense is an attack." This is how most echinoderms of the ocean think. But the helmeted hedgehog decided to radically change its strategy. And its defense works on two levels at once! The first is from predators. The hedgehog turned sharp spines into dense scaly armor. It covers the entire rear of the coloboscentrotus with a shell.





There could have been needles here, but the hedgehog decided otherwise...

If you try to take such an egg in your hand, you will be surprised how tightly it clings to the stones. This is the second line of defense - against the vagaries of the weather. The skirt of legs and streamlined shape makes the helmeted hedgehog three times more resistant to storms, compared to other coastal echinoderms.



My Caesar, the legion is built!

While its relatives are tossed about by the waves and carried away into the depths of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, our thoughtful friend remains off the coast of Australia, the Philippines and Hawaii even in the most severe weather.



The Hawaiians have their own flowers...

Waves, however, are not the worst threat on the coast. It was our (not) echinoderm friend. Slowly but inexorably, moving thousands of legs, the helmeted urchin crawls towards all the unfortunate organisms that survived the bad weather. Despite its speed limits, the colobocenthrotus remains a ruthless predator. Mollusks, algae and other urchins - it will slowly crack shells, break through needles and scrape off every stone in an attempt to get its fill.



Mom, can I have this stone? No, it's for New Year's!

Even the continuation of the family had to be adapted to the difficult conditions of the shores. If these were males and females of ordinary spiny sea urchins, they would gather in a large group and release all their reproductive cells into the water. Then it's a matter of technique and underwater currents. But our heroes are deprived of this opportunity. Their eggs will be washed away by the first wave, and all reproduction is lost. Therefore, the colobocentrotus have come up with nothing better than to make reproductive cells sticky. "Dragon eggs" glue their real eggs to stones. They can only hope that the eggs will merge with the sperm floating in the water.



Nothing unusual, just a typical Anapa beach during the holiday season.

In this extravagant way, small balls of cells appear first. Then they transform into a floating gluttonous cone. This strange creature, called echinopluteus, will swim in the sea and rake in plankton for several months. But the "puberty" of the hedgehog lasts only an hour! A quick transformation, and the sea hero is ready to withstand the blow of rough seas and amaze vacationers with his appearance.



Beautiful children of sea urchins.