How to Harvest Sea Urchins?

[Quinn15]

Hi,

I was thinking of grabbing some sea urchins next time I go diving in Thailand. Do you guys have any recommended equipment I should get? Thinking about just getting gloves and a mesh bag and going at it during the safety stop.

 

[Quinn15]

Most sea urchins in Thailand are diadema antillarum (or the black ones with really long spikes) so I’m not sure how good they are for uni

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Did someone say “Urchins”?
You’re going to need kevlar gloves or some type of puncture proof gloves. Depending on how long the spines are, you might consider using an old school BFK (Big F’ing Knife) to break down the spines. Then you can pull them loose from the rock and bag them. We use mesh game bags and rakes because we get thousands of them, but if you’re just after a few you can just use the BFK or bar or tool of your choice to flip them into the bag. Just be careful of the spines.
Open them from the bottom by busting the mouth pod out then draining all the waste out. You can rinse it out. Then carefully break the shell away around the perimeter to expose the uni. You can scoop out the uni with a spoon carefully, pull the uni pods out whole by running the spoon in between the shell and the pods from the center out. There will be five of them. try not to make a mess out of it. Rinse the uni pods off and enjoy raw (sashimi)

 

[Quinn15]

Did someone say “Urchins”?
You’re going to need kevlar gloves or some type of puncture proof gloves. Depending on how long the spines are, you might consider using an old school BFK (Big F’ing Knife) to break down the spines. Then you can pull them loose from the rock and bag them. We use mesh game bags and rakes because we get thousands of them, but if you’re just after a few you can just use the BFK or bar or tool of your choice to flip them into the bag. Just be careful of the spines.
Open them from the bottom by busting the mouth pod out then draining all the waste out. You can rinse it out. Then carefully break the shell away around the perimeter to expose the uni. You can scoop out the uni with a spoon carefully, pull the uni pods out whole by running the spoon in between the shell and the pods from the center out. There will be five of them. try not to make a mess out of it. Rinse the uni pods off and enjoy raw (sashimi)
View attachment 876278

Would some gloves like this work or does it have to be Kevlar? Also are there any dive knifes you recommend in particular for this?

Thanks,

 

[happy-diver]

Forget Thailand, road trip it down to Santa Rosa

 

[virgili]

Did someone say “Urchins”?
You’re going to need kevlar gloves or some type of puncture proof gloves. Depending on how long the spines are, you might consider using an old school BFK (Big F’ing Knife) to break down the spines. Then you can pull them loose from the rock and bag them. We use mesh game bags and rakes because we get thousands of them, but if you’re just after a few you can just use the BFK or bar or tool of your choice to flip them into the bag. Just be careful of the spines.
Open them from the bottom by busting the mouth pod out then draining all the waste out. You can rinse it out. Then carefully break the shell away around the perimeter to expose the uni. You can scoop out the uni with a spoon carefully, pull the uni pods out whole by running the spoon in between the shell and the pods from the center out. There will be five of them. try not to make a mess out of it. Rinse the uni pods off and enjoy raw (sashimi)
View attachment 876278

 

[virgili]