In fact, the indications are that the more mature red sea urchins are the most prolific producers of sperm and eggs, and are perfectly capable of breeding even when incredibly old.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Red sea urchin 'almost immortal'

An examination of the unique eyes of skate (ray fish) led to advances in combating blindness, the horseshoe crab was crucial in developing a test for bacterial contamination, and sea urchins helped in the development of test-tube fertilization.

CNN: Mars can wait. Oceans can't

The auctions begin after 4am for costly boxes of sea urchins and move on to the warehouse for bluefin tuna, where the dealers walk round inspecting the huge animals with a torch in one gumboot and a handspike in the other.

ECONOMIST: Gems of the ocean

Sea urchins graze the kelp that lobsters use as cover, so the initial drop in bottom-feeders did not benefit lobsters since although they had fewer predators, they were more exposed.

ECONOMIST: Lobsters in Maine

Boys and girls dive for sea urchins, cracking them open on the rocks before sucking out the innards - 'kina' or sea eggs are a muchloved delicacy among Maori people.

BBC: All at sea in New Zealand

The skeletons of brittlestars, which are sea creatures related to starfish and sea urchins, contain thousands of tiny lenses that collectively form a single, distributed eye.

ECONOMIST: REPORTS

Until recently Woodside and about 100 hundred other divers searched Puget Sound for sea cucumbers and urchins to sell to buyers in Asia, where the items are considered delicacies.

CNN: Stimulus money pays fishermen to snare lost nets