- Source: Echinoecus pentagonus
Echinoecus pentagonus, the sea urchin crab, is a species of crab in the family Pilumnidae found from the Red Sea and East Africa to French Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands. This crab is a parasite that lives in the rectum of a sea urchin. In Hawaii, it chooses only Echinothrix calamaris, leaving few of these urchins unpopulated. Its curved and pointed carapace reaches only 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) in width.
Taxonomic synonyms of E. pentagonus include:
Echinoecus klunzingeri Miyake, 1939
Echinoecus pentagonus Rathbun, 1894
Echinoecus rathbunae Miyake, 1939
Eumedon convictor Bouvier & Seurat, 1906
Eumedon pentagonus A. Milne-Edwards, 1879
Eumedonus petiti Gravier, 1922
Liomedon pentagonus Klunzinger, 1906
