Hundreds of urchins dead

Newport Beach tide pool rangers suspect recent high water temperatures are the reason hundreds of dead sea urchins have been found littering the beach at Little Corona since Sunday. The rangers picked up some of the knobby green-and-purple shells but they were still easy to find among the rocks and patches of seaweed on Thursday.

Water temperatures have been high for about three weeks, with a recent peak at 80 degrees. When the water gets hotter than 73 degrees, pathogens dangerous to sea urchins thrive, said Amy Stine, a marine life refuge supervisor for the city of Newport Beach.

She typically doesn’t see a lot of dead urchins, she said.

“Normally you might see two or three if you’re lucky in a whole day, and in the last couple days we’ve seen ? [200] or 300,” Stine said.

Because its only sea urchins dying, Stine said warm water is likely the cause. But tide pool ranger Crystal Singleton said she recently found two dead sea hairs, which are a type of sea slug, and three dead sea stars washed ashore.

“I think there’s something in the water,” she said. “I don’t think it’s just the water temperature because it stank real bad.”

? Alicia Robinson