Düben & Koren, 1846
Description
Colouration
Test low, usually arched, up to 80 mm in horizontal diameter. Colour of test usually whitish, with a reddish tint on the upper side; sometimes violet. Spines exquisitely pink with white tip, or uniformly reddish or yellowish.
Buccal plates
Buccal plates without spines (E. elegans test).
Spines
Primary spines rather large, forming distinct, regular longitudinal series. Secondary spines distinctly smaller than the primaries. Each ambulacral plate carries a primary spine, the two series in each ambulacral area being of equal size.
Pedicellariae
Globiferous pedicellariae usually with 2-3 lateral teeth on each side of the blade. Tridentate pedicellariae with fairly broad blades, of a size up to 2 mm length of head (E. elegans pedicellariae).
Habitat
It is found between 50 and 2000 m.
Distribution
In the North Sea, this species is recorded from the north of the Shetlands. Elsewhere it is distributed from the Trondhjem Fjord (Norway) and south of Iceland to the Bay of Biscay and the Azores. Its occurrence in the Mediterranean and the east coast of N. America is uncertain.