The recolonization of southeast Alaska by sea otters is certainly a success story for the species not everyone is celebrating that success. One of the first of the shellfish industries to fall prey to the sea otter's appetite was the red urchin fishery on the outer coast of southeast Alaska. The urchin roe is considered a delicacy in Japan where it commands a very high price. Red Urchins, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus , are one of three species of urchins found in southeast Alaska waters. They prefer the wave-beaten outer coast, and waters with strong currents.
Urchins are herbivores, grazing in rocky areas on macroscopic algae.
The urchin has hundreds of suction cup-tipped tube feet which it uses for locomotion and attaching itself to rocks. It is also covered with stiff spines which it uses for protection and for moving food to its mouth on the underside of the body. The spines work to protect the urchin from almost everything but the fisherman and the sea otter. Since the sea otters became established along the outer coast of the region, the Red Urchin populations have fallen below the level that is worth harvesting commercially. Northern or Pinto abalone, Haliotus kamtschatkana , have much the same range and habitat requirements as the Red Sea Urchin, and have suffered much the same fate in terms of sea otter and human predation.