Do you like doughnuts? I used to think they were made for greasy cops in American movies sitting in cars on stakeouts. Or delivered by the “lootenant” in flimsy boxes to a shoddy open-plan office full of badly-dressed men. For the oldies out there, think Kojak or NYPD Blue.
But I learned to love them when we were living around Lombok. A regular trip to the island capital, Mataram, always began with coffee and doughnuts at J.Co Donuts. If you’re ever in Mataram, I can recommend them.
These sea urchins remind me of doughnuts. They come in a variety of shapes, colours and sizes, and are typical of the many species found here. They’re usually tangled in weed in the intertidal zone, or high up on the dry-bone zone on any beach.
I collect them to photograph, but their fragility means I lose about 50% on the trip back to the boat in my kayak.
The two on the left and right in this image are Toxopneustes pileolus (Lamarck, 1816). The green one at the bottom is Mespilia globulus (Linnaeus, 1758). All three were found on Gili Gede, Lombok in 2023/4. The smallest measures 450mm in diameter, and the other two are 550mm across.
Have you ever eaten them? I snacked on fresh sea urchin once off the northern coast of Java. They are delicate and juicy (not too fishy) but I won’t eat them again because I have read that their numbers are dwindling in parts of the world, so it’s probably best to leave the live ones alone.