Sea Urchins

[Ken C]

***Used search function to no avail.

Want to dive for some Sea Urchins next week.

1) Are PV urchins unsafe to eat? People tell me not to eat them, but I have any way and they weren't bad at all. Is there something I don't know about PV urchins that make them not safe to eat?

2) Is Santa Barbara a better spot to dive for urchins? If so any general areas that I should research? If not where relatively near socal have decent urchins?

Thank you.

[fishy killa]

If you can make to the lb breakwall they are everywhere

[MiguelT]

I definitely wouldn't get them near any breakwall, but if you can find them near drop offs and around kelp they're usually good. They're not filter feeders but the good ones are eating kelp which does filter the water. I'm guessing Santa Barbara would have cleaner ones, I love pulling them out of pv spots near deeper water like Vicente

[jondavies]

Good advice above. But before you decide to load up on them, crack one or two and check the color of the roe. I'm not a huge fan of uni but the brighter the yellow, the better it tastes.

[MiguelT]

+1 on splitting one open and checking the quality. Also, never put them into an NHT bag, take a bag and clip it onto a float if you're shore diving.

["Yard-Sale Josh"]

They taste like snot from someone who has a really bad sinus infection....

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by MiguelT

I definitely wouldn't get them near any breakwall, but if you can find them near drop offs and around kelp they're usually good. They're not filter feeders but the good ones are eating kelp which does filter the water. I'm guessing Santa Barbara would have cleaner ones, I love pulling them out of pv spots near deeper water like Vicente

Originally Posted by jondavies

Good advice above. But before you decide to load up on them, crack one or two and check the color of the roe. I'm not a huge fan of uni but the brighter the yellow, the better it tastes.

Good advice...

Any idea where in Santa Barbara might be good for shore diving? Any general ideas?

Thanks.

[Erik Sun]

I've taken urchins in PV. Easy way to get them: Get a floatline/Float/Speargun setup with a bag attached to the float. Spear for fish, and when you get tired of that or waiting for a better tide, etc go dive for Uni. You can drop your floatline/gun setup and fill your bag up with urchins and go in...

[fish impaler]

pretty much anywhere in Sb has urchins mesa lane is an easy dive, swim out to the reef on the left at the bottom of the stairs, dive in about 15 ft of water, and look under ledges

[Bob Ballew]

I can recall complaints from Japanese buyers some years back, that customers became sick from eating roe from RPV urchins...suggest avoiding the Whites Point area sewage outfall area (ever see all the white grunge growing on kelp there?)and downhill areas where chemical cancer carcinogens were dumped and settled back in the 60's..urchins taken in thick kelp growth have the best quality roe...milky or, dark or gold brown is poor quality...bright yellow is the key..

[TonerSD]

I have never tried them. are they worth diving for? how does a good one taste?

[ocean_314]

Originally Posted by TonerSD

I have never tried them. are they worth diving for? how does a good one taste?

Yuch!!!!!!