Sea urchins at the verge of extinction

By SNV Sudhir/VisakhapatnamNext time you buy a unique ashtray on the Vizag beach front remember that you are also party to the destruction of valuable marine life. The ashtrays are made from sea urchins that clear the sea base and sea rocks by consuming all the filth, algae, decay, dead material. It is an organism which provides amicable environment to other organisms to live. Now they are at the verge of extinction. The zoology students who often visit the sea shore at Vizag beach as part of their field visits to study sea organisms used to see these Urchins in large numbers on the rocks with their naked eyes. But this was the situation four or five years ago. And now the students rarely encounter these organisms as the number is rapidly depleting day by day. Zoologists are worried about the situation; they cannot even imagine sea without these Urchins that are very essential for the sea and for the other marine organisms.Sea Urchins are Saprophytes and purely marine form. They have a unique feature of water vascular system apart from the normal blood vascular system for movement. Zoologist of the city, Prof A Joseph says that the depletion of these organisms was due to over exploitation by innocent public and also by commercial cell collectors who catch them to make ornaments and ashtrays. Pollution due to the submergence of domestic and industrial waste into seawaters adds to the misery.“Innocent boys catch these urchins to make ornaments, ash trays and sell them for a song. They do not know the value of these organisms. Government should safeguard this rich marine zone, which is highly potential ” said Joseph.Dr Jayanth Kumar Mishra, a marine technologist, who did a research on these sea urchins three years on the Vizag seacoast said that Vizag seacoast was very rich and resourceful coast and these saprophytes are nowhere found in any part of the country.“ Four years ago, one fine day while I was walking on the beach with my friends I was surprised to see these Urchins in large numbers. But now I could rarely see them. Unfortunately these rare kind may extinct if some thing is not done to it” said Mishra who just returned from Gulf from a marine assignment. This marine bio technologist along with other zoologists of Andhra University had tried for sea ranching to breed these urchins after a study which revealed its rapid depletion. But the ranching was stopped after certain period of time due to other reasons.