Anse Figuier

Sea urchin bottoms, and a grazer the reef is missing

Town : Rivière-Pilote

Anse Figuier is in Rivière-Pilote, in the south, between Sainte-Luce and Le Marin.

Its bottoms are known for their sea urchins, starfish and tropical fish, all easy to watch. The best spots lie along the rocks of Pointe Figuier, on the right-hand side of the beach. From the shore you can see Diamond Rock, Morne Larcher and, in clear weather, Saint Lucia.

The long-spined urchin, and why it matters

It is the one with long black spines. It looks like nothing much, and yet it is one of the most important grazers on Caribbean reefs: by eating algae, it stops them overrunning the coral and leaves it room.

A reef without urchins is not a quieter reef. It is a reef that smothers.

The largest die-off ever recorded at sea

In 1983 and 1984, from Bermuda to South America, long-spined urchin populations collapsed: up to ninety-seven per cent in places, ninety-three per cent on average. It is the most massive mortality event ever reported in the marine world.

The cause has never been identified. It was too fast and too widespread for the analyses to be done in time. Forty years on, the populations still have not returned, and many reefs in the region have shifted to algal domination. A further die-off was reported in the Caribbean in 2022.

When you meet one here, you are looking at a survivor.

What that means for you

The spines are thin, brittle, and they stay in the skin. Do not put a hand on the bottom, and take particular care when standing up near the rocks, snorkellers included.

What level you need here