Photo Peter Southwood
In the Cape Peninsula region only one sea urchin is regularly seen - the ever-present Cape urchin, Parechinus angulosus. This does not mean it is the only urchin found in the area, just that others are very rare. One of these is Echinus gilchristi, which we believe is what Peter Southwood photographed at 44 m on Tafel Berg reef, south of Hout Bay. It can readily be distinguished from the Cape urchin by the much sparser covering of long spines, and many short ones in-between. While SURG is not certain of the identification, a search on the web did reveal E. gilchristi, which is similar, and has been found in southern African waters, off Durban.
Please keep an eye out for it, and let SURG know if you have seen it, and preferably, have taken a photo.
Two Oceans, A guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.
http://www.echinoids.nl/Echinoids/Echinus-gilchristi/Echinus-gilchristi.htm