Q 01/05

Which marine mammal's teeth and bones can be stained purple by a lifetime of eating sea urchins?

A) Sea otter

B) Harbor seal

C) Walrus

D) Sea lion

Answer · why

A) Sea otter

Sea otter numbers shape whole coastlines: where the otters eat urchins, the grazers cannot strip the seabed's seaweed forests bare.

Q 02/05

The word "urchin" in the name sea urchin is an old English word for which spiny land animal?

A) Porcupine

B) Echidna

C) Hedgehog

D) Tenrec

Answer · why

C) Hedgehog

Hedgehog is what urchin first meant, and the spiny sea animals were once called sea hedgehogs outright.

Q 03/05

Which Greek philosopher gives his name to the lantern, a sea urchin's toothed chewing organ?

A) Plato

B) Aristotle

C) Socrates

D) Pythagoras

Answer · why

B) Aristotle

Aristotle likened the urchin to a horn lantern in his History of Animals, and naturalists later pinned the name Aristotle's lantern on its chewing app...

Q 04/05

On Japanese sushi menus, which three-letter word is used for the rich orange lobes of sea urchin?

A) Ebi

B) Ika

C) Tai

D) Uni

Answer · why

D) Uni

Uni is eaten raw as sashimi or on sushi, and Japanese demand for it is strong enough to have raised fears of overfishing.

Q 05/05

The sea urchin "roe" prized by chefs is really which organs, found in both males and females?

A) Livers

B) Gonads

C) Stomachs

D) Kidneys

Answer · why

B) Gonads

Gonads are the only meaty, edible parts of a sea urchin, and they double as the animal's nutrient store.