Selection by consumers has led to the evolution of a vast array of defenses in animals and plants. These defenses include physical structures, behaviors, and chemical signals that mediate interactions with predators. Some of the strangest defensive structures in nature are the globiferous pedicellariae of the echinoderms. These are small venomous appendages with jaws and teeth that cover the test of many sea urchins and sea stars. In this study, we report a unique use of these defensive structures by the collector sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla. In both the laboratory and the field, globiferous pedicellariae were unpalatable to fish consumers. When subject to simulated predator attack, sea urchins released a cloud of pedicellaria heads into the water column. Flume experiments established the presence of a waterborne cue associated with this release of pedicellariae that is deterrent to predatory fish. These novel results add to our understanding of how the ecosystem-shaping sea urchin T. gratilla is able to reach high densities in many reef habitats, with subsequent impacts on algal cover.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 194. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 February 2023.
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#253,069
of 33,992,632 outputs
Outputs from The American Naturalist
#26
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Outputs of similar age
#4,297
of 352,288 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The American Naturalist
#2
of 56 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 33,992,632 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,564 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 352,288 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 56 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
