Linda Meanor, aged 11, of Seattle, for her question:

What is a sea urchin?

The sea urchin belongs to the Echinodermata tribe of animals the spiney skinned ones. He is a relative of the starfish. The urchin part of his name comes from an Old English word for hedgehog. He looks rather like a small, sea‑‑going hedgehog, all prickles.

The prickly fellow is shaped like a ball about two inches in diameter. His whole body is covered with spikes over half an inch long, His color is usually purple. You might mistake him for a purple pincushion ‑ with the pins sticking out instead of in.

The sea urchin can move along the floor of the ocean. He is not common on the beaches. Once in a while a tide may leave him high and dry. Sometimes a hurricane leaves him strewn on the sand. Once beached, his prickles soon fall off. So your chances of finding him in good shape are not too good.

Your chances of finding him in Puget Sound are even worse. For the sea urchin is a native of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. He can be found off the coasts of America from the New England states as far south as Yucatan.