page_title: Tripneustes ventricosus
section_title: Biology
hierarchical_section_title: Tripneustes ventricosus / Biology
caption_attribution_description: English: A west indian sea egg, Tripneustes ventricosus, and a Callianassid shrimp mound, Graham's Harbour, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, taken June 20, 1999.
context_page_description: Tripneustes ventricosus, commonly called the West Indian sea egg or white sea urchin, is a species of sea urchin. It is common in the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas and Florida and may be found at depths of less than 10 metres.
context_section_description: The West Indian sea egg feeds on algae but tends to avoid the crustose, highly calcified coralline algae.
  Ripe gonads were found in urchins at any time of year but breeding probably takes place mostly in the summer. Male and female urchins liberate gametes into the sea where fertilisation takes place. The eggs soon hatch into larvae which are planktonic. These develop through a number of larval stages over the course of about one month before settling on the seabed and undergoing metamorphosis into juveniles. Young urchin recruits in Barbados are thought to have originated off the coast of South America. Various bottom feeding fish feed on the young sea urchins. In Jamaica, the queen triggerfish, (Balistes vetula), is the main predator. During their first year, young urchins increased their diameter by about 7 millimetres (0.28 in) a month. Growth slowed thereafter and halted completely after maturity was reached while the gonads were ripening. After liberation of the gametes, growth restarted.
caption: Large specimen next to a shrimp mound, Grahams Harbor, San Salvador Island, Bahamas
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