Vertical trends in morphological variability of sea urchins of the genus Echinus from the Northeast Atlantic and Arctic

A study of the morphological variability of seven species of sea urchins of the genus Echinus from the Northeast Atlantic and Arctic with different depth preferences showed that in the group of species E. tenuispinus, E. esculentus, E. melo, E. acutus, E. elegans, E. affinis, and E. alexandri, arranged based on increasing depth of occurrence, the maximum test diameter decreases, the diameter of the apical system increases, the ratio of the number of interambulacral plates to the number of ambulacral plates increases, buccal and periproctal spines tend to disappear, and the number of ambulacral plates lacking a primary tubercle sharply decreases. At the same time, the test height decreases, while the number of secondary tubercles on coronal plates and number of lateral teeth on the valves of the globiferous pedicellariae increases. The change in the first six characters reflects the process of retention of juvenile features in deep-water Echinus. Similar trends in test height, apical system diameter and the ratio of the number of interambulacral plates to the number of ambulacral plates are recorded while comparing shallow-water and deep-sea populations of the eurybathic species E. acutus. This suggests that this species may currently be in the process of speciation.