I recently had an opportunity to visit the Ramsay Wright Zoological Laboratory on the campus of the University of Toronto. The lab houses an impressive collection of zoological specimens and I was able examine them at leisure. This event was a sketching opportunity with the Southern Ontario Nature and Science Illustrators, so at some point I did stop peering into specimen jars to sit down and draw. Perhaps because I don’t live near a marine coastline, I rarely see echinoderm specimens in local collections; that’s one reason I chose to draw these sea urchin spines:

Sketch of sea urchin spines © Emily S. Damstra

Sketch of sea urchin spines © Emily S. Damstra

I really like echinoderms (as I’ve mentioned before), and the surprising diversity of shapes, sizes, and colors of these spines only reinforced my interest in the phylum. Subtle shades of brown, purple, gray, and orange combined with a texture and weight like fine porcelain gave these subjects an irresistible appeal. Unfortunately I didn’t have my gouache paint with me, so I did my best to capture their character with graphite.

The loose spines were in a lidless box that also contained the urchin’s test with some spines still attached. Judging from the other labeled specimens nearby, it was probably collected many many years ago. Unfortunately this echinoid was not accompanied by any collection data; I don’t know the species or locality. However, it was the only sea urchin of its kind in the box, so I believe all of the spines came from one individual.

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