{"id":23469,"date":"2023-01-11T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T09:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=23469"},"modified":"2023-01-12T10:22:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T09:22:42","slug":"beach-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2023\/01\/11\/beach-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wrap up warm and visit a shore to search for the skeletal remains of sea urchins <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
This green sea urchin was found on a Norfolk beach after a storm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

BEACHCOMBING CAN BE A FRUITFUL AND mindful pastime at any time of year, but it\u2019s in winter that the sea gives up many of its treasures. Among them are the skeletal remains of ancient invertebrates that have been on Earth for 540 million years \u2013 sea urchins. Several species, including green and common (edible) sea urchins, occur on British coasts. Their shell-like cases, called tests, are made mainly of calcium, arranged in plates to form a squashed sphere reminiscent of a satsuma.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In life, sea urchins are covered in spines like marine hedgehogs \u2013 Echinus, <\/em>the genus to which they belong, comes from the Greek word for hedgehog \u2013 but these are lost when they die. Little white bumps cover the tests that wash up on shores, showing where the spines were attached. The soft organs have long since rotted away, leaving an empty container. Well, almost empty. If you pick a test up, it rattles, as the urchin\u2019s hard teeth and jaws, used for grazing algae, are still trapped inside. <\/p>\n\n

BH <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

PHOTO: SEA URCHIN: ROBIN CHITTENDEN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrap up warm and visit a shore to search for the skeletal remains of sea urchins BEACHCOMBING CAN BE A FRUITFUL AND mindful pastime at any time of year, but it\u2019s in winter that the sea gives up many of its treasures. Among them are the skeletal remains of ancient invertebrates that have been on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"28","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"28","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_28-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_28-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2023","purple_external_id":"February-2023-28-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2023-28-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000087240||","purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.wildlife.500","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"58d61955-0ac4-406c-83f1-ab6f21d86b70","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-01-12T09:17:52Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"df6e3c5e-67e9-49db-9d21-652448be652a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-01-12T09:22:48Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A3248XmfpSdudIWUkSL5lKg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[25],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06.jpg",2048,1911,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06-300x280.jpg",300,280,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06-768x717.jpg",768,717,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06-1024x956.jpg",800,747,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06-1536x1433.jpg",1536,1433,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/3873892b-0d34-480c-9734-651b6af45c06.jpg",2048,1911,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Wrap up warm and visit a shore to search for the skeletal remains of sea urchins BEACHCOMBING CAN BE A FRUITFUL AND mindful pastime at any time of year, but it\u2019s in winter that the sea gives up many of its treasures. Among them are the skeletal remains of ancient invertebrates that have been on…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23469"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24129,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23469\/revisions\/24129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}