Mondo Knows Facts

Sea urchins scrape rocks using a five-toothed jaw mechanism

Aristotle lantern apparatus features five self-sharpening teeth.

Sea urchins graze on tough algae using a complex internal jaw structure called Aristotle lantern. Composed of five pointed calcium carbonate teeth controlled by forty muscles, the teeth continuously self-sharpen as hard calcite crystals grind against rock surfaces.

Diadema antillarum (hatpin urchins) (Bimini Island, Bahamas) (16144456455)
James St. John ยท CC BY 2.0 ยท licence ยท source

Where this comes from

Natural History Museum

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: sea-urchin, ocean, anatomy

Sea urchins scrape rocks using a five-toothed jaw mechanism: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
Aristotle lantern apparatus features five self-sharpening teeth. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a animals fact?
Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.