A red sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, near Becasses island in Argentina. — JOEL REYERO/dpa
CONSIDER the sea urchin. Specifically, the painted urchin: Lytechinus pictus , a prickly ping-pong ball from the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The species is a smaller and shorter-spined cousin of the purple urchins devouring kelp forests. They produce massive numbers of sperm and eggs that fertilise outside of their bodies, allowing scientists to watch the process of urchin creation up close and at scale.
