Methuselahs of the Sea.

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    • Subject Terms:
      CALIFORNIA; UNITED States
    • Abstract:
      Large red sea urchins may be much older than anyone imagined. A new study lends credence to the claim that the biggest ones could be up to 200 years old, not just a mere 15 years, as some believe. The authors say special regulations are needed to protect the animals against overfishing. A declining harvest of red sea urchins in California during the late 1980s prompted marine zoologist Thomas Ebert of Oregon State University in Corvallis and colleagues to find a better method of estimating urchin growth and age. Using tetracycline, a chemical that binds to the skeleton and can be used as a marker, Ebert's group monitored 1 year's growth of 1582 urchins.