we are engage in breeding of sea urchin for conservation purpose during collection we have observed some sea urchin are floating instead of sinking or crawling at bottom and most important feature they are alive and of same species? what makes them float ? we have observed the specimen since last 24 hours ..its healthy live and floats ..
It sounds like those urchins might have some air trapped inside them. Were they exposed to air at some point? It might be difficult to remove the air, even if they are out upside down. Also, define 'healthy'? They may be alive but it might take more than 24 hr to see some morbidity/mortality.
The only thing I found online was a discussion forum: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=910731
I happened upon this thread when I was trying to identify a creature I saw while swimming in mid August off a beach in Spain, about 15 to 20 km north of Tarragona. I finally decided (with the help of pictures) that it was a rather large (over 15 cm) sea urchin, specifically E. esculentus. But all the internet pictures showed these creatures on the bottom of the sea or on reefs or someplace like that. The one I swam within a meter of in the evening was definitely floating, about half a meter from the surface. I'm sorry to hear you experts think it was in distress.
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