A short video about how Sea Urchins use their whole bodies as compound eyes. I wrote about it here.. But this Cal Academy Video stars my colleague Rich Mooi expounding on sea urchin goodness!! Go check it out!!

Holiday Echinoblog! Plush/Fuzzy EchinoSculpture at Cal Academy in San Francisco!!

Whenever I get to visit San Francisco, I make a point to stop by the Invertebrate Zoology Department at the California Academy of Sciences. THE Natural History Museum in the Bay Area!

Where else can you find giant 2 foot long models of beach-hopping amphipods wearing Santa hats!???

This visit, I've been visiting my former Masters advisor Rich Mooi and met his very talented and creative students who had created a pair of holiday-themed sea urchin art/plush/fuzzy echinoSculpture!!

Kristin Vollrath, who works on Paleozoic sea urchins served up this Christmas-colored Faux cidaroid...
Where the indubitable Ms. Kelly Walsh, who is working on miniaturized sea urchins, created this wonderous purple plush Strongylocentrotus purpuratus!!
Side by side....
Kelly gets extra points for having this unique nautaloid-ammonite plushie!

Happy Holidays from the Echinoblog!!