Just for fun, lets debunk scientific facts with anecdotal rants.

Auquanut · May 26, 2022

I'll start. It's a fact that urchins don't have eyes. In fact, they don't even have a recognizable brain. The idea that an urchin could target a newly glued frag to carry around just to irritate you is laughable.

I beg to differ. I have one pincushion urchin that not only targets every newly placed frag as soon as it's placed, but it also looks very smug when it manages to pry the frag off and carry it around the tank. Not only that, but if I'm not quick enough to wrestle the frag away from this Wiseguy, he'll drop it in the most inconvenient spot before looking for his next target. Not only can he see and think, but he's also got a mean streak.

I'm sure there are other reef facts that our tanks seem to defy. I can think of a couple myself. What do you think?

blaxsun · May 26, 2022

Well, since we're talking about urchins... Once upon a time, in a reef tank far, far away - there lived a green urchin we'll call "G". Even though G is no longer with us, during his short reign of terror he managed to hunt down and kill several snails, hermit crabs and one horseshoe crab. And by kill, I mean drill through the shell, flip it over and suck the innards out.

And when I say G killed the horseshoe crab, I mean G hunted down, cornered and killed it. I'm going to check later if my wife still has the image of the two holes G drilled into the head of the horseshoe crab. G was the type of urchin that loved seaweed. And by love, picture Golem's obsession with 'Precious' and you'll get the picture. You could drop it anywhere in a tank and within 30 seconds he'd scampered across several feet to climb on top of it - pushing any snails, hermit crabs or even fish out of the way.

Auquanut · May 26, 2022

blaxsun said:
Well, since we're talking about urchins... Once upon a time, in a reef tank far, far away - there lived a green urchin we'll call "G". Even though G is no longer with us, during his short reign of terror he managed to hunt down and kill several snails, hermit crabs and one horseshoe crab. And by kill, I mean drill through the shell, flip it over and suck the innards out.

And when I say G killed the horseshoe crab, I mean G hunted down, cornered and killed it. I'm going to check later if my wife still has the image of the two holes G drilled into the head of the horseshoe crab. G was the type of urchin that loved seaweed. And by love, picture Golem's obsession with 'Precious' and you'll get the picture. You could drop it anywhere in a tank and within 30 seconds he'd scampered across several feet to climb on top of it - pushing any snails, hermit crabs or even fish out of the way.

And they say urchins aren't intelligent? Maybe intelligent and evil?