Pourtalesia
Pourtalesia wandeli.png
Pourtalesia miranda
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Echinodermata
Class:
Echinoidea
Superorder:
Atelostomata
Order:
Holasteroida
Family:
Pourtalesiidae
Genus:
Pourtalesia

Pourtalesia is a genus of the family Pourtalesiidae which belongs to the irregular (bilaterally symmetrical) sea urchins. The animals measure 5—6 cm in length and live in the abyssal zone of the Atlantic, Pacific, Indopacific and Antarctic Oceans where they have been found in more than 3,000 m depth. The mouth opening of these animals is located anteriorly and the lantern of Aristotle is missing as typically for holasteroid sea urchins.

Species

Currently, 11 species of Pourtalesia are recognized.


This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Pourtalesia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.