Availability of Gametes sea urchin
| Availability of Gametes from common North American sea urchins and sand dollars | ||||
| Species | North American distribution | Ripe gametes found | Recommended temperature | Egg Diameter |
| Sea Urchins | ||||
| Arbacia punctulata (Atlantic puprle sea urchin) |
East coast: Cape Cod to Florida
Texas; Yucatan |
June-August | 20C-24C (above 30C is lethal) | 79 |
| Lytechinus pictus (white sea urchin) |
West coast: Southern California-south | spring-fall | 16C-20C (below 8C is lethal) | 111 |
| Lytechinus variegatus (variegated urchin) |
East coast: North Carolina to Florida | fall-spring | 22C-28C | 103 |
| Stongylocentrotus droebachiensis (Green sea urchin) |
East coast: Arctic to New Jersey West coast: Alaska to Puget Sound |
January-June | 0C-10C | 160 |
| Stongylocentrotus franciscanus Red sea urchin) |
West coast: Alaska to Southern California | March-July | 10C-17C | 140 |
| Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Purple sea urchin) |
West coast: British Columbia to Baja California | December-May | 13C-15C | 80 |
| Sand Dollars | ||||
| Dendraster excentricus (Eccentric sand dollar) |
West coast: Alaska to Baja California | late spring-summer | 10C-22C | 114 |
| Echinarachnius parma (Common sand dollar) |
East Coast: Labrador to Cape Hatteras West coast: Alaska to Puget Sound |
summer | 4C-16C | 145 |
| a Varies somewhat along its north-south distritution.
Source: Primarily after Czihak, 1975 and Strathmann, 1987. |
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