Abundance and distribution of Echinometra lucunter (Echinodermata, Echinoidea) at a rocky platform on the central coast of Venezuela

ABSTRACT

Echinometra lucunter is a common Caribbean sea urchin, which the abundance and distribution were evaluated along a rocky platform at Cepe beach, Venezuela. Two surveys were conducted along transects perpendicular and parallel to the coast, from the shore to the wave breaking zone (WB), using 1m² quadrat method. In survey-1 the smaller sea urchins (<1.8 cm) occurred in the tide pool zone (TP) and medium and large dominated in the WB. The average density recorded in the WB and TP (140.2 and 272.7 ind/m² respectively) are among the highest values reported in the Caribbean. The maximum density recorded was 562 ind/m² in the TP and most of them were juveniles (<1.8 cm). In survey-2 sea urchins (³3.0 cm) density ranged from 1 to 156 ind/m² and the overall average was 29.6 (± 32.4) ind/m². The highest density occurred in the platform western sector (average 43.2 ±41.3 ind/m²). In the transects parallel to the coast the sea urchin's abundance gradually decreased from the WB (130 ±12 ind/m²) towards the coast (0.3 ±0.37 ind/m²). In conclusion, the E. lucunter densities recorded on the Cepe beach platform are the highest values reported in the Caribbean.

KEYWORDS:

• Caribbean Sea
• intertidal organisms
• Playa de Cepe
• rocky platform
• sea urchin
• tide pools

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank Adriana González, José Luis Núñez, Pedro Cabello-Maleno and Robert González for their help and support during the fieldwork. We thank the Oficina de Diversidad Biológica (Ministerio para el Poder Popular para el Ambiente) for providing a scientific permit in support of the research (Permiso de captura de invertebrados silvestres con fines científicos no. 287/2013). We also thank anonymous reviewers for helping to improve the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.