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The Flower Urchin (Toxopneustes pileolus) is a poisonous urchin species that should be handed very carefully as it can inflict pain if touched by bare skin. It is a tropical urchin species belonging to the family Toxopneustidae and it has been recorded in the waters of East Africa, Mauritius, New Caledonia, Fiji, Japan, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia. It can often be found covered with sea floor debris that it uses to camouflage itself and it will occasionally bury itself. It is known to feed on algae, bryozoans, seaweeds and other organisms found on coarse shell rubble and sea floor detritus. The Flower Urchin (Toxopneustes pileolus) grows to a maximum width of approximately 10cm.
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